Child Day Care Facilities
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Back to School IPM Home

• What is IPM? Integrated pest management (IPM) is a widely accepted approach to pest management that results in effective suppression of pest populations while minimizing human health and environmental hazards.

  Read more about IPM in the Keep Pests Out of Your Child Care Center brochure, PDF (1.3 mb) or En Español, PDF (175 kb)
• Video Series - Integrated Pest Management for Child Care Centers
• Integrated Pest Management: A Toolkit for Early Care and Education Programs
• IPM Training available for child care providers
• Child Care & School Pest Information Series - IPM practices for common pests
• Child Day Care Facilities IPM Articles
• DPR’s School IPM publications - Includes IPM curricula, guidebook, practices for common pests, posters, recordkeeping calendar and more.
• Reducing pesticide use - fact sheets about how to reduce pesticide use around homes and gardens

• IPM Plan for Child Care Centers, PDF (724 kb)
  DPR has developed an IPM plan template for child care center staff to use to meet this Healthy Schools Act requirement.
  • Directions, PDF (284 kb) for accessing and using the IPM Plan template.
• Pesticide Use Reporting for School and Child Care Center Employees, PDF (228 kb)
  Starting January 1, 2015, school districts and child care centers are required to submit pesticide use reports to DPR using this form. For January 1 to December 31, 2015 submit reports of pesticide applications to DPR no later than January 30, 2016. A good idea is to start keeping your records on the form, PDF (228 kb) now!
• Healthy Schools Act Requirements, PDF (195 kb)
  An easy-to-use guide that describes all of the Healthy Schools Act requirements.
• Healthy Schools Act Amendments fact sheet, PDF (195 kb)
  Starting January 1, 2015, new amendments to the Healthy Schools Act will go into effect. Schools and licensed child care centers (schoolsites) applying certain pesticides are required to establish an IPM Plan, report pesticide use at least annually to DPR, and, starting on July 1, 2016, complete IPM training.
• Healthy Schools Act text, PDF (180 kb) - Text from the California Business and Professions Code, Education Code, Food & Agricultural Code, and Health & Safety Code related to the Healthy Schools Act.
• Pest Management and Pesticide Use in California Child Care Centers, PDF (6 mb) - Survey of child care centers on pest problems and pesticide use; report prepared by the University of California for DPR (June 2010)
  • News release, “Survey Shows Many Child Care Centers Have Pest Problems, Use Pesticides” (July 2010)
• The law does not require an integrated pest management plan, posting, notification, recordkeeping, or reporting for treatments involving certain kinds of pesticide products. Training is always required. The categories of products exempted are:
  • Self-contained baits and traps
  • Gels or pastes used for crack-and-crevice treatments
  • Antimicrobials
  • Products listed as minimum-risk pesticides by the U.S. EPA
    
  To determine whether a product is exempt or not, review the categories above, then read the label carefully. The label is a legal document describing permitted uses for the pesticide product. To get an idea of which products are potentially exempt, you may consult our exempt pesticides worksheet, PDF (242 kb).
• List of pesticide products prohibited from use in schools and child care centers (English, PDF, 214 kb) (En Español, PDF, 177 kb)
• Information for pest control businesses
• Templates - integrated pest management plan, notification, registry, warning sign, and pesticide use report form, recordkeeping forms to help you comply with right-to-know requirements

• About safe pesticide use - DPR fact sheets
• Caring For Our Children Standards - The National Resource Center has information about new bleach concentration in common products. The concentration of most bleach solutions has changed and you could be using too much. How does this affect your health and the health of the kids at your child care center?
• U.S. EPA Product Labeling - The US EPA has a Pesticide Product Label System where you can find specific label instructions for any registered product.
• U.S. EPA Fact Sheet on Pesticides and Their Impact on Children, PDF (157 kb) - Key facts about the risks associated with pesticides
• Useful links - information on pesticides and related topics
• Structural Pest Control Board - information about fumigation for pest control, household pest control, and termites

• School IPM HELPR - for a specific pest, provides management tactics and potential human health and environmental impacts

For more information about the Healthy Schools Act:

Schools contact:
California Department of Education
Robert Corley
Telephone: (805) 835-3089
E-mail: rcorley@cde.ca.gov

Child care facilities contact:
California Department of Social Services
Gwen Corso
Telephone: (916) 651-0259
E-mail: gwen.corso@dss.ca.gov

For more information about child care IPM contact:
Department of Pesticide Regulation
Belinda Messenger
Telephone: (916) 324-4077
E-mail: bmessenger@cdpr.ca.gov

For more information about school IPM contact:
Department of Pesticide Regulation
Laurie Brajkovich
E-mail: school-ipm@cdpr.ca.gov

We hope this Web site answers most of your questions on school IPM (if not, please send us a suggestion).
For additional information, you may wish to subscribe to:

Integrated Pest Management for Child Care Centers (Electronic Notification List) | SUBSCRIBE |
Child Care IPM Announcements are transmitted to our subscribers periodically and are aimed at those who work for or with child care providers. Announcements will include information regarding the Healthy Schools Act, training opportunities for child care providers, IPM resources, green cleaning and other pest management topics related to child care IPM.