By NANCY HILER
They also don't walk across a field, but roll around, lie in the grass, run, jump, and even kick up the soil, sand or mud underfoot.
These natural habits make pests - and the pesticides intended to kill them -- important issues in elementary schools. How do local school districts deal with these issues?
Local elementary school districts employ "integrated pest management," essentially a preventive, least toxic system of pest control and grounds maintenance. "We don't create conditions where we attract ants, cockroaches and so on," Chris Milano, the North Bellmore School District facilities director, said. "And fields are maintained naturally. No fertilizers, no pesticides are used." IPM is the method of choice in Nassau County, including in neighboring Bellmore, Merrick and North Merrick.
Children are especially vulnerable to pesticides, according to Beyond Pesticides, a Washington, D.C.-based, non-profit membership organization that identifies pesticide risks and promotes non-chemical and least-hazardous management alternatives. The U.S. EPA, National Academy of Sciences and American Public Health Association, among others, have voiced concerns about the potential dangers that pesticides pose to children.
"Children may be more vulnerable to environmental exposures than adults in part due to the fact that their organ systems are in various stages of development," said Maida Galvez, MD, MPH, an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
A growing body of evidence in scientific literature shows that pesticide exposure can adversely affect a child's neurological, respiratory, immune and endocrine systems, even at low levels. Several pesticides, such as pyrethrins and pyrethroids, organophosphates and carbamates, are also known to cause or exacerbate asthma symptoms, Beyond Pesticides reports.
Millions of Americans use pesticides. Recent figures set the amount of pesticides used on lawns alone at about 70 million pounds per year, most purely for aesthetic purposes, according to Grassroots Environmental Education, a non-profit child environmental health advocacy group in Port Washington.
"Information about their [pesticides'] impact comes after the fact only when health or the environment has been compromised," Michele Roberts, the Beyond Pesticides project director, said. "Absent of a federal policy, we look to states such as New York, which are out in the forefront looking to protect children and encourage types of integrated pest management."
Pesticide rules for schools
Under New York State environmental conservation and education laws enacted and strengthened in the 1980s and '90s, schools are subject to certain restrictions for using pesticides. Before that, pesticides were frequently sprayed in school cafeterias and classrooms to kill insects, as well as on athletic fields to kill fungus, weeds such as dandelions and crabgrass, and insects such as grubs.
Today, pesticide use in schools and on school grounds should only be considered as a last resort when other methods have proven unsuccessful, according to the state Department of Environmental Conversation. "It falls in line with the whole principle of healthy schools," Milano said. "The least toxic as possible pest management procedures are used."
Additionally, only DEC-certified pesticide technicians may apply the chemicals. In most Long Island school district, including those in the Bellmores and Merricks, a licensed IPM company with certified technicians provides monthly inspection and monitoring services.
Also, under the state's Neighbor Notice of Pesticide Spraying Law that took effect in 2001, written notification to all staff and parents must be made at the start of each school year, asking if they wish to receive 48-hour prior notification if a pesticide application is to take place, even if done when school is out of session. Clearly visible signs or markers also must be posted on the school grounds whenever pesticides are applied to lawns, shrubs or trees.
Children's' health and environmental advocates have tried for several years to protect children further by supporting similar requirements on a national scale through the School Environment Protection Act. If enacted, SEPA would require all public schools to implement safer approaches to pest management that rely on a range of non-chemical and chemical alternatives and require notice be provided to parents and school staff when pesticides are used.
Why is a federal law needed? Beyond Pesticides reports, "Although the U.S. EPA and several states recommend safer school pest management practices and pesticide use notification, and there is a fair amount of good will among school administrators, custodians and pest management professions, only 26 percent of schools are following those recommendations, and therefore, recommendations prove to be largely ineffective."
"The law has been stalled for the past five years under the current administration," Roberts said. "We hope with the new Congress there will be action."
Avoiding indoor pests
The integrated pest management approach used indoors in local schools includes cautioning teachers to keep snacks and beverages in sealed containers and making sure custodians clean properly, including daily mopping, sweeping or vacuuming of classrooms and the school's cafeteria so that food and beverages do not attract insects or rodents.
"All teachers have snacks in sealed Tupperware," Joe Hendrickson, Bellmore Elementary School District facilities director, said. "I won't allow them to introduce a problem."
Milano said, "Cleaning properly, sanitizing properly, monitoring monthly, IPM shows you rarely have a pest problem."
IPM is a common sense, realistic approach, Beyond Pesticides' Roberts explained. Two examples she cited were putting door-sweeps in the schools to keep pests out and making sure dumpsters that might attract rodents and insects are located far from the buildings.
Similar measures mentioned by local facilities directors included eliminating standing water, trying to keep windows and doors closed unless they have screens, and removing shrubbery close to the buildings, such as butterfly bushes, which attract bees and wasps.
However cautious and consistent preventive methods are, bees, wasps, flies and other flying insects, and ants, cockroaches, termites, and many other insects might occasionally pose a problem. Techniques to counteract infestations include the use of glue boards or boric acid baits set out over a weekend. Diatomaceous earth is another choice. This naturally occurring soft, chalk-like sedimentary rock is easily crumbled into a fine white powder, which absorbs oils from the waxy outer layer of insects' exoskeletons, causing them to dehydrate.
Stinging insects have to be dealt with, Milano said, to avoid injury and possible allergic reactions among staff and students. As part of trying least toxic methods first, he said, natural solutions such as using clove oil or menthol can be effective. "A situation may come up where pesticides are used, but only as a last resort," he said. In such a case, the outside certified pest control service would be called in, he added, and the pros and cons of that course of action would be weighed against the risk of harm from the pests themselves.
Grounds control
Milano and his local counterparts extend the least toxic approach to maintaining school grounds. No pesticides, fertilizers or weed killers are used. Additionally, local Little League and other sports associations that often use and maintain some of the district's fields are directed by the districts to refrain from using pesticides as well.
Hendrickson, who has a degree in entomology and once maintained a private estate in Oyster Bay, is a longstanding believer in and practitioner of natural lawn care. "Our fields are maintained naturally," Hendrickson said. He advocates raising the height of the grass and mowing the dandelions.
"This lowers the root zone and the grass withstands drought," he said. Leaving dandelions and other clippings in the fields provides a natural source of nitrogen and supports beneficial microbes and earthworms, which in turn improve grass growth. "On Long Island we have a type of grass called bentgrass," he added, "the most resilient in the world." Bentgrass is widely used on golf courses and for other turf applications because it can handle a great amount of foot traffic, it has a shallow root system that is thick and dense, allowing it to be seeded and grow rather easily, and it has a pleasing, deep-green appearance.
What about the future? "If anything, regulations are getting tighter and are not going back," Milano said. "I agree with them 100 percent.
Hendrickson added, "I would always say around schools to go with the least detrimental to the environment first. The least environmentally impacting is the way to go."
Comments about this story? Contact nhiler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
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