Toxic Free NC - Get Informed!

1. Your Board of Education can give you what you want. It may seem natural to focus your energy on the school staff who carry out day-to-day pest control operations, but they are not directly accountable to you. Rather, your Board of Education is elected by you to represent your interests, and only the Board has the power to create binding district-wide policy. An official policy is the best way to ensure that IPM is done well in your schools, that there is some recourse if it is not, and that the IPM program lasts longer than the current staff members. Your most strategic and effective choice is to work towards a School Board policy requiring IPM in your school district.

2. Don’t go it alone! Draw on established community groups and build your power in numbers. Draw on the human resources of church congregations, neighborhood associations, local political groups, childcare cooperatives, environmental groups, and other established associations of people in your community. You might arrange to present at one of their meetings, pass out information at their events, or put a call to action on their listserv or newsletter.

3. Be inclusive and representative. Though it may take some extra work and creativity, it is well worth the effort to make your campaign inclusive of a racially, socio-economically, culturally, geographically, and otherwise diverse spectrum of the parents, teachers, and students in your school district. Working with people from outside of your immediate circle of friends and co-workers strengthens your initiative by bringing new community resources and connections. And, a large and representative group more easily gets the attention of the Board of Education, since they are an elected body.

4. Make participation fun and easy, and have many different options in order to keep as many people involved in your work as possible. Here are some tips:

* Your campaign meetings and activities should be accessible to a wide variety of people – schedule them after work, be sure that childcare and transportation are convenient, rotate them around to different neighborhoods, and plan focused activities that are fun, brief and inclusive.

* People should have the option of receiving communication from the steering committee by email, phone, or post mail.

* When asking people to take action or otherwise help your campaign, make it easy for them to be successful: draft up talking points or sample letters, provide all needed contact information or other details, provide how-to guides or other training resources, and don’t forget lots of encouragement and appreciation. Pair up new folks with partners who have more experience on specific tasks.

* Don’t be shy about asking people to do things - the worst they can do is say no. It’s helpful to find out early on what sorts of things people prefer to do – the more information you have about their interests, preferences, and limitations, the easier it is to find ways they can help. That way you won’t have to make assumptions about what people will or won’t want to do.

5. Call in the experts. North Carolina is fortunate enough to have a state extension program devoted to IPM in public schools. Their extension agent regularly gives free IPM trainings for school personnel and pest control contractors, and may also be able to arrange an on-site training or consultation for your school, free of cost. Help your school district to make good use of this resource! Contact Godfrey Nalyanya at 515-5650, or godfrey_nalyanya@ncsu.edu for more information.

6. School district staff are your friends. Whether they’re doing the right thing or the wrong thing, whether you like them or can’t stand them, strive to stay on the good side of school district staff. These include staff in the maintenance, facilities, custodial, dining, health, and environmental safety departments, as well as the Superintendent and principals. Here’s why:

* An IPM program will be much easier to put in place if the staff does so willingly;

* Staff can give you information about pest control practices in the district that can be very useful in building your case for a change to least-toxic IPM;

* Friendly school staff can help you navigate the Board of Education’s policy making process, since they have to deal with it all the time;

* The Board of Education will have a much easier time voting in favor of an IPM program if their staff thinks it’s a good idea;

* Reporters will call school staff to get their perspective on IPM and on you – they’ll have much nicer things to say if they like you.

6.b. The secretaries of school staff are your best friends. Administrators can be very hard to reach, but their secretaries are extremely helpful, and usually easy to reach by phone and email. Many secretaries are powerful gatekeepers who control what information their bosses do or don’t get, and what appointments do or don’t get made. Don’t give them reasons to use their power against you.

7. Use your local news media wisely. The news media can be very useful in your work, but in their efforts to create “news,” they may use you in ways that can hurt your effort. Here are a few dos and don’ts for successful work with your local news media:

* Make good use of the editorial page in your local paper. Activists can submit letters to the editor (LTEs) expressing opinions about recent events, decisions, or news articles relating to IPM. Op-Eds are another great forum for community members and allied experts. See www.greenmediatoolshed.org for advice on writing and submitting LTEs and Op-Eds.

* Invite reporters to public events, such as presentations and school board meetings, and keep them posted on developments in your campaign.

* Use positive press to your advantage. School districts sometimes get more than their share of bad press – use the press as a forum to celebrate the success of the school district in its progress toward an IPM program, and the schools will appreciate your making them look good.

* Let a reporter get you “off message” during an interview. Reporters may ask you uninformed questions, or ask you questions designed to generate controversy. Do not give any information that you’re not qualified to give, and don’t say anything that, if printed, would weaken your campaign or your relationships with key decision-makers. “I don’t know,” or “let me get back to you on that,” or “so-and-so can answer that question,” are all fine answers. Even better, redirect their questions so you stay on message: “That’s a great question, but the more important point is that there is no such thing as a ‘safe’ pesticide, especially not when it comes to children….”

8. Tell your story. At its core, IPM is about keeping people healthy, especially kids. As a parent, student, or teacher, you have a very powerful tool at your disposal for advocacy and media work: your personal story. Always emphasize your personal motivations and connections to the issue, and don’t forget to include children in advocacy efforts – children are very effective spokespeople!

9. Be polite, but don’t be shy – always ask for exactly what you want. Whether you’re talking to school staff, elected officials, the press, or your fellow activists, always be sure to state exactly what it is that you want from them, and what it is that you’re working toward, in simple and direct terms. Politeness is important, but it’s not worth miscommunication or ambiguity.

10. Be persistent. Institutional change has a way of taking longer and requiring more effort than we anticipate. It pays to be persistent and a little bit crafty, since there are always other ways to get what you want. Don’t be afraid to call back and leave another message, drop another email, or send a reminder postcard. Whether you’re trying to reach school staff, parent activists, or Board of Education members, they’re busy people – more often than not they’ll appreciate your reminders and efforts to stay in touch with them, so long as you remain polite!