School IPM in Action
Riding with William Bailey,
Pest Control Technician at Elizabeth City - Pasquotank Public Schools
by Billie Karel
Elizabeth City/Pasquotank County schools are filled with admirers of William A. Bailey, the district’s one-man Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. Four years ago, the cash-strapped district’s twelve schools suffered from unrelenting cockroach and ant infestations, even while paying for expensive contracts that included spraying and fogging its buildings regularly with pesticides. Something had to give. That’s when maintenance director Jack Ward created a new position in his department, Pest Control Technician, and promoted William Bailey to the job.
Ward hasn’t regretted the decision to move to an in-house IPM system for a moment. Bailey now implements one of the smoothest-running, most effective school IPM programs in the state, and reports that thorough monitoring, good communication, and common sense pest prevention have drastically reduced the need for chemical applications in the district, indoors and out. I rode with Bailey between Elizabeth City-area schools one Tuesday morning and had the opportunity to talk with him at length about his program, meet and speak with some of his colleagues, and get a first hand look at what makes IPM work so well for Elizabeth City/Pasquotank County Schools.
Dressed in slacks and spiffy shoes, Bailey cruised through the halls of Elizabeth City Middle School, a very old building once notorious for its roach problems, casually throwing up a hand to say “hey” to a dozen or so teachers and custodians he passed in the hall. He smiled warmly and greeted all the cafeteria staff, then introduced me to the manager, Marie. She told me there used to be roaches everywhere: “It was terrible, you’d open a door and close it right back up again ‘cause you’d see them crawling all over the door frame and scare you half to death. They even came up on to the serving lines a few times and crawled right up into kids’ lunch trays.”
Now there is not a roach to be seen. Bailey proudly shows off the deep fat fryers in the kitchen; the school used to have stacking fryers that were impossible to keep clean because there wasn’t enough space between them. Bailey recommended that the kitchen replace them with new fryers that stand off the floor on 6” legs, next to each other but with plenty of space between, behind, and underneath to clean. Bailey also helped the cafeteria manager work out a more effective kitchen cleaning system. Mops are now kept off the floor, appliances are regularly moved to clean around and underneath, cleaning staff are held more directly accountable for doing their jobs, and the result is a squeaky clean kitchen with no pests in sight.
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It seems every school we stopped into had a similar story. Linda Dawson, cafeteria manager at Pasquotank County High School, showed me where ants used to swarm near the doors to her dining hall. Both dining hall and kitchen are clean as a whistle now, not a bug to be found; blowers over the kitchen doors even keep the flies out.
Vernon Turner, Head Custodian at Weeksville Elementary, told me about the once-terrible fire ant infestations in the school yard. Bailey uses a monitoring and control method for fire ants he calls the “yellow flag system.” A yellow flag placed near an ant mound alerts students, teachers, staff, and groundskeepers to steer clear; careful monitoring of the area around the flag tells Bailey the size and movement of the ant population; and strategic application of pesticide granules close to the mound, where ants pick them up and bring them back for their buddies to share, eliminates the mound for good.
Turner and Bailey agreed that involving the students in the process of fire ant control is crucial. Turner has spent time demonstrating fire ant behavior to students. “I’d tap on that fire ant mound and show the kids how fast they come up, from all directions. Then they understand why they have to stay away from those yellow flags, and even better, they know what the mounds look like. Now when there’s a new fire ant mound in the yard, a student will come running in to tell me about it!” Bailey has given Turner a stash of yellow flags so he can mark new mounds as he and the kids find them.
Bailey uses simple, common sense approaches to pest management that really work. But there’s more to IPM than control methods. Bailey explains some of the keys to his program’s success:
1. Communication and Presentation: “You can’t just talk about insects all the time.” Bailey is known - and loved - by staff in all twelve schools. Being sociable and knowing everyone by name is no accident; Bailey says it’s the backbone of his IPM program. “Everything else falls in place if you have that communication,” he said. “Just saying ‘hey’ to folks in the hall or asking about their families reminds them to tell me if they saw an insect. They alert me to problems.” Bailey also makes a point of keeping a professional appearance: “You can’t walk into the school with muddy shoes and work gloves hanging out of your pocket, and you can’t just talk about insects all the time.” The level of familiarity and respect Bailey has achieved with his co-workers through this kind of day-to-day communication and professional presentation makes his pest control program work better. People know him and trust him, so they’re generally glad to work with him, and take his advice seriously.
2. Cooperation: “You can’t leave the students out.” Bailey recognizes the need for whole school communities to participate in successful IPM, and encourages broad involvement. He works closely with custodial and cafeteria staff to institute preventive sanitation and maintenance practices. I was especially impressed with his commitment to keeping students in the information loop, and how valuable their cooperation has been in managing fire ants. “Elementary school kids will listen especially well to what you have to say,” he said. “Some of our first graders can tell the difference between a fire ant mound and a carpenter ant mound as well as I can.”
3. Monitoring and Learning: “I think like a bug!” Bailey checks in at each school about once a week to inspect problem areas and talk with staff. He observes infested areas very closely before, during, and after treatment. He said he tries to think like the pests, watching how they come in to the building, where they hide, and what they’re attracted to. This way, he is able to choose the most appropriate control measures and keep track of their effects, correcting and improving his methods as he goes. Bailey finds that a well-placed sticky trap with a bit of honey in the middle eliminates crickets and spiders more effectively than a chemical application; a dab of roach gel in the back of a closet takes care of roaches in an elementary school classroom that another PCT might have sprayed for. By experimenting with mechanical and least-toxic controls, Bailey avoids overuse of chemicals and improves on his work constantly. “I’m teaching myself the best pest management techniques every day,” he says.
4. Treating the root of the problem: “I don’t trust a quick fix.” Bailey addresses the root of a pest problem with carefully thought-out solutions that may not kill the whole pest population right away, but will work better in the long run than faster-acting chemical controls. For example, he said that before his time, the contracted pest control technicians who worked for Elizabeth City/Pasquotank County Schools fogged to control cockroaches. “Sure, the roaches that get hit with the chemical directly will die, but the rest of them aren’t stupid. They run off, wait until things cool down, and then a few days later what do you think they do? They come right back.” Not only do the roaches return shortly after a broadcast pesticide application, but the chemicals from fogging or baseboard spraying linger indefinitely in the air and dust of the room, exposing students and staff. Bailey says he doesn’t trust a quick fix and errs on the side of slow control. When time allows, he prefers to treat fire ant mounds with pesticide granules over a few days rather than drenching them with liquid pesticide for a quick kill. He greatly prefers sticky traps or gel and bait systems for indoor control to any kind of spray or spot treatment because they’re cheaper, safer, and work better.
Linda Dawson, Cafeteria Manager at Pasquotank County High, best summed up the key to Bailey’s successful school IPM program: “He does such a good job because he cares. You can’t pay an outsider to care, but William knows us and knows our students, so he does a wonderful job.” Congratulations to William Bailey, Jack Ward, and everyone at Elizabeth City - Pasquotank Public schools on your achievements, and keep up the good work!
William Bailey will be retiring from his position with Elizabeth City/Pasquotank County Schools at the end of February, 2004.
To learn more about pest control practices in your local school district and how you can help change them for the better, contact Toxic Free NC.