Is your school making the
grade on pesticides?
Take
action today!
Dear friends, I have an important message for parents, teachers and students heading back to school in NC this Fall - if you are not in one of those groups yourself, please help me get the word out to people who are. In 2006, North Carolina adopted The Schoolchildren's Health Act thanks to vocal support from many of you (good work Action Alert subscribers!). That law requires public schools in NC to notify parents, teachers and other staff before any potentially-hazardous pesticide use at their school. It also requires school systems to switch over to least-toxic pest control programs (known as Integrated Pest Management or IPM) by 2011. These least-toxic IPM programs are very important to protect the health of students and staff, and have been shown to work better and cost less for schools (reference). Is your school making the grade on pesticides? A recent NCSU survey of school systems in North Carolina found that 20% still don't provide any notification to parents or school staff about pesticide use, and nearly 40% have yet to switch over to least-toxic pest control programs (reference). Take action today to make sure your public schools are making the grade on pesticides:
Thank you, and best wishes for the
new school year, |
NC public schools are now required to notify parents and staff about pesticide use at school, and to switch over to safer pest control methods. Is your school making the grade on pesticides? Take action today! >>Use this sample letter to request pesticide notification from your school system, or if you already get it, please send us a copy. >>Have questions, or want help figuring out what to do next? Reply to this email or call Billie anytime at 919-833-1123. >>Support our work. Donate today!
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Take
Action: Sample Text & Instructions
Parents
and guardians, teachers and other school system staff
- please take a few moments to contact the people in
charge at your school system and let them know you
want to be notified about pesticide use at your school. Please
customize the text that appears in CAPS and brackets
[ ], and send to the appropriate people. You may choose
to send this by email or in the mail, or to use it
as a basis for a phone call. The sample is set up to
go to the Superintendent of your school system, and
to be copied to the principal of your school, and to
your representative(s) on your local school board. Tips
for finding the right people to send this to.
 |
Please contact Toxic Free NC at or (919) 833-1123 to let us know you're taking action, or if you have any questions. Thank you! |
[YOUR ADDRESS]
[DATE]
Attn: [YOUR SUPERINTENDENT]
[YOUR SCHOOL SYSTEM'S CENTRAL OFFICE ADDRESS]
CC: [OPTIONAL - YOU CAN COPY THIS TO YOUR PRINCIPAL, YOUR SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER(S), PTA CHAIR, A TEACHER, OR OTHERS]
Dear [SUPERINTENDENT'S NAME]:
I am writing to alert you to a North Carolina law which went into effect in 2006 called the School Children's Health Act (see full text here: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2005/Bills/House/HTML/H1502v5.html).
The law gives parents or guardians, teachers and all school staff the right to be notified in advance of non-exempt pesticide applications at their school, effective October 1, 2006. Schools are now required to notify parents or guardians and all school employees annually of the school's pest control program, and of their option to be notified 72 hours in advance of non-exempt pesticide applications at their school or other work site. (Guidelines and sample forms for pesticide use notification can be found at: http://www.toxicfreenc.org/programs/school.html#1502)
I would like to request notification in advance of pesticide applications at my school - please advise me how to register for this notice. It is very important to notify affected staff, and parents or guardians of affected students, before any non-exempt pesticide is used at school. Please ensure that our school system is in full compliance with the School Children's Health Act.
The School Children's Health Act also requires
that all NC public schools implement least-toxic methods
of pest control - known as IPM, or integrated pest management
- no later than October 1, 2011. Many resources are available
to assist schools with this transition, from Toxic Free
NC, the NCSU School IPM Program, and the NC Department
of Public Instruction. I hope that our school system will
complete this transition soon to protect student and staff
health, and the environment.
Many thanks for your consideration, and for your service
to our school district. I will follow up with you about
this matter within two weeks.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION]
Tips for contacting the right people at your school system
Superintendent: You can find contact information for your Superintendent in one of two ways - either check on your school system's website, or look up your school system in a local phonebook and call and ask for the name and contact information of the Superintendent. You can find your school system's main website by doing a web search, or by using this list of public school systems in NC: http://www.ncschoolreportcard.org/src/
About Superintendents... Your Superintendent is like the CEO for your entire school system, overseeing curriculum, facilities, and administration. This person is hired and fired by the school board. Her or his support is critical for your school's compliance with the School Children's Health Act - but keep in mind that this person may be hard to get directly in touch with, especially in a large school system! That's why it's important both to CC: other important contacts, and to follow up with this person's office if you don't hear back from them right away.
Principal: You can find contact information for your principal in two ways - either check on your own school's website if it has one, or look up your school in a local phonebook and call the main office to ask for the principal's name and contact information. To find your school's website, you can either do a web search for the school's name and city, or use this state listing of schools and school systems: http://www.ncschoolreportcard.org/src/. Simply enter your school's name into the search box under "quick search."
School board representative(s): You can find contact information for your school board representatives in several ways. Most school system websites will have a section that lists school board members and how to get in touch with them. You can find your school system's main website by doing a web search, or by using this list of public school systems in NC: http://www.ncschoolreportcard.org/src/
Some school systems may not list school board members' contact information on their websites. You can also find this information either by contacting your own school's main office and asking who represents them on the school board, or by contacting your county's Board of Elections, which you can find in a local phonebook.
About School Boards... School board members are elected by the public - that means they are hired and fired by you! Some school systems have at-large school boards, which means that all members represent the entire school district. Other school systems are divided into districts, and each member of the school board represents a particular region and set of schools. Still other school systems have some combination of both, where some members represent a particular district, and others are at-large. Whatever the case may be for your school system, you should send you email/letter to any school board member who represents you directly - that might mean all of them on an at-large school board. You should also send your email/letter to any school board member with whom you have a personal connection, whether or not they directly represent you. If in doubt, simply copy all members of the school board.
Already receiving pesticide use notification from your school?
I'd love to see how they're doing - please consider sending me a copy of the notice(s) you've received.
Please either mail a copy of your notice(s) to:
Billie Karel
Toxic Free NC
206 New Bern Place
Raleigh, NC 27601
Or, it to me.
Many thanks!
References:
Karel, Billie; A Rogers and F Pattison. November, 2003. Clean Schools, Safe Kids: Striving for Safer Pest Management in North Carolina Public Schools. Toxic Free NC.
Nalyanya, Godfrey. May, 2008. A Pest Management (IPM) Survey of Maintenance Directors of North Carolina Public Schools. School IPM Program, Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University.