PPS Posting and Notification Policy

Under the PPS pesticide policy, the district is to provide notice to the school principal seven to ten days before an intended pesticide (including herbicide) application.  According to school board policy, the principal is to notify the school community by notice and posting both before and for a reasonable time after application.

The district is currently completing a posting and notification procedure to implement this policy.  The procedure specifies that notices of planned pesticide applications (both indoor and landscape applications) will be posted at the school seven to ten days prior to the application.  There may be some circumstances in which this notice period is reduced.  Additional signs are to be posted at the school at the time of pesticide applications, and are to remain posted for seven days.  Notices are to include the name of the particular pesticide(s) to be applied, the date of the planned application, and how to get more information.

Because many parents may not see a notice posted at the school, PPAP also asked the district to send notices of planned pesticide applications home with all students.  The district said that this type of 'universal' notification is not feasible.  PPAP then sought a 'registry' notification system, such that individual concerned parents and school staff would be given an annual opportunity to sign a registry to request advance notification if pesticides were to be applied at their school.  The district has not adopted such a system, but might consider it, especially if parents and school staff request it.  For now, PPS procedure leaves it to the discretion of individual school principals whether to provide direct advance notification to parents or school staff.

If you receive notice of a planned pesticide application at your school, see Once You Know: How to Use the Information for steps you can take to learn more about the application and how to propose safer pest control alternatives.

PPS Annual Pesticide Use Reporting

School board policy also requires the district to 'report annually on practices.'  PPAP has asked the district to release pesticide use data annually, including as part of the State of the Building reports for individual schools, and on the district's Web site, so that this information will be widely available to interested parents and school staff.  We want data for both indoor and outdoor applications to be released, including applications made to PPS properties by other agencies or groups.  We also think that an annual report summarizing progress in reducing and eliminating pesticide use indoors and out, including actual reductions achieved, areas for improvement, and priorities for future reductions, will be essential to successful implementation of the policy.

Current PPS State of the Building reports contain a brief narrative description of some of the district's past and present pesticide use practices.  However, these reports provide no actual pesticide use data, and very limited information about pesticides that are currently being used.  The district also released a first annual report in May of 2002 that contains actual data records of indoor pesticide use at each PPS school in 2001.  Data on pesticides applied on PPS landscapes was not included in the report.  No summary was provided of overall pesticide use or of pesticide reductions achieved, nor identification of priorities for future reductions. The report had limited circulation.  PPAP has posted some of the information, including the 2001 indoor pesticide use data and PPS lists of approved pesticides (indoor approved list, outdoor approved list), here on our Web site.

Here's what you can do.

Getting Information from Your School:

• Talk to your principal about posting and notification procedures at your school.  Current district procedures require the principal to post notices at the school seven to ten days in advance of any pesticide applications.
• Tell your principal that you want direct advance notification of any pesticide use at your school, and discuss how such notification might be provided to you and other parents or school staff who request it (such as via notices sent home with students or published in school newsletters, or via a personal or automated phone call system).  Current district procedures allow the principal the discretion to decide whether and how to provide any such direct advance notification.

• If you are not satisfied with notification procedures at your school (e.g., if your principal is not able to provide you with adequate direct advance notification of planned pesticide applications), write to PPS administrators.  Tell them that you want advance notification of any pesticide use at your school (see sample letter).
• Write to PPS administrators and school board members.  Ask that actual pesticide application data for each school (including data for applications made both indoors and on the grounds) be included in each school's annual State of the Building report, and also be posted on the district's Web site (see sample letter).

• Under PPS procedures, your school office is to have a copy of product labels and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) for any pesticides planned for use at your school.  Ask for copies of these materials.  You can also do your own research about the particular pesticide(s).  Start with the Pesticide Hazards page of our site.
• If you feel that a proposed pesticide application is unnecessary to control a pest hazard, or that pesticides are being used for a non-hazardous pest, contact your principal and PPS Environmental Health & Safety to discuss the application.  Ask that non-chemical pest control methods be used instead.   You may need to do some research to identify non-chemical methods or less toxic pesticides to propose as an alternative.  See the home page of this site for links to information about non-chemical pest control alternatives.  If you feel that your concerns are not adequately addressed by PPS and its pest control contractor, contact PPAP and the district External IPM Committee.  (Note: This will not prevent the pesticide application from occurring, but will help ensure that it is reviewed by the committee.)
• Study past usage data to identify common pests and types of pesticide applications at your school.  As above, research and propose alternative pest control methods.  Consider helping with natural landscaping, weeding or leaf mulching shrub beds, or educating your school community about non-chemical prevention and control methods for head lice (PDF) or nuisance ants (PDF).
• Join PPAP's campaign to demand a halt to the use of high hazard pesticides district-wide.