Gene Harrington, director of government affairs for the National Pest Management Association spoke to the audience during the opening sesion. Photo By Mike Merchant.
Participants listened to various discussions concerning pest management in Texas schools. Photo By Mike Merchant.
Texas AgriLife Extension School IPM Program First Ever Conference A Success
by Mike Merchant, Professor and Extension Urban Entomologist-Texas AgriLife Extension Service
Not many new associations get started with more than 200 people at their first meeting, but there was little doubt that last month's inaugural meeting of TIPMAPS, the Texas Integrated Pest Management Affiliates for Public Schools was a success. The group, the newest affiliate of the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO), met for the first time on November 18 and 19, 2009 in San Marcos.
The group, composed of pest management coordinators for public schools, came from all corners of Texas to discuss keeping schools safe and pest-free using an integrated pest management (IPM) approach. Topics varied from hogs and rats to bugs and bats.
Pest management may seem an unlikely topic for school professionals, but don't try telling that to any of the representatives of 115 school districts present at the meeting. These folks are on a mission. "IPM is not just what we do," said TIPMAPS president Tom Ohm of Frisco Independent School District, "it is what we are." According to Ohm, IPM is important to maintain the health and safety of children as well as the structural integrity of the buildings which the public has entrusted [schools] with.
"What school IPM coordinators do for schools, while under-appreciated, is incredibly important and increases the quality of life for school children," said Gene Harrington, legislative liaison for the National Pest Management Association in Virginia. Harrington was a speaker and one of several out-of-state visitors who came to see what's happening in Texas. Harrington noted that Texas is a leader in the IPM movement and other states are watching carefully what is happening here.
At the closing business meeting, over 50 association members voted to adopt new bylaws and commit themselves to meeting annually in the cause of IPM. Officers of the new affiliate group include Ohm, vice president Paul Duerre of Killeen ISD, secretary Dixie Mathews of Arlington ISD, and treasurer C.G. Cezeaux of Spring ISD.
The close of the meeting was vindication of sorts for Professor and Extension Entomologist Dr. Mike Merchant and Extension Entomology Program Specialist Janet Hurley. Hurley and Merchant have worked for over two years to encourage IPM coordinators to form their own association and to help organize the event. They view the conference as an extension of the work they have been doing for the past eight years to encourage adoption of IPM in public schools.
"There was always some fear on our part that school IPM might be just another idealistic fad," Merchant said. "But the meeting for us was concrete evidence that IPM has found a permanent place in the way we operate schools in our state."
Funding for the conference was provided in part by a grant obtained by Hurley and Merchant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program.