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State-wide Expansion of School IPM Program

What is it and what did we do?

We previously conducted a School IPM Benchmark Pilot Program for Brevard County using the Monroe model. Based on the successful outcome of that project, School IPMwe decided to expand the School IPM Program throughout the state of Florida. Our objectives for this expansion were:

  1. Formation of a coalition of school IPM practitioners:  Introduce the pilot project concept and initiate pilot projects in expansion counties in partnership with county faculty.  With our Brevard partners we will assist in expansion by organizing peer-to-peer interaction; develop training materials with county agents for IPM practitioners (private industry and district in-house).
  2. Develop training materials that will be used for expansion schools/counties including an updated manual to be posted on the School IPM website, a picture gallery of “before and after” and scripted powerpoints for common pest biology and behavior in conjunction with strategies for least-toxic pest management (IPM).
  3. Develop fire ant management strategies in athletic turf, playgrounds, and landscape.
  4. Redesign the School IPM Website using cascading style sheets (css),
    embedded Flash elements and new content, described above.

What was the outcome?

To meet Objective 1, The Florida School IPM Working Group met twice during the 2005-2006 granting period.  The meeting on Feb. 1, 2006 was the kick-off date for converting the Advisory Board to a Working group.  We were visited by Sherry School InspectionGlick (EPA-PESP HQ) and Marc Lame (Indiana University) and founder of the Monroe model of school IPM.  Both gave presentations.  On Aug. 4, 2006 our second Working Group meeting focused on sanitation and health inspections with presentations given by Robin Eychaner for Ric Mathis from the Florida DOH.  Average attendance was 35-40 people per working group meeting from approximately 5 counties. 

We modified Objective 2 to assist the EPA in completing its toolbox project.  Significant resources were devoted to re-doing the National School IPM website.  There were thousands of pages posted at the old SIPM website that were reviewed and archived or modified and re-posted for immediate use. We continue to work toward technical resolutions of posting material to the website while transitioning to IFAS Extensions newest website, Solutions For Your Life. Material updates include the posting of our Pest Press newsletter. The Pest Press newsletter recieved a 2006 Gold IMAGE Award from the University of Florida IFAS Extension. The new website and content can be viewed at: http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu.

Objective 3 was postponed due to drought an unavailability of suitable field sites for testing.

Objective 4 was successfully completed.  Updates continue.  The overhauled website received a 2006 Gold IMAGE award from the University of Florida IFAS Extension.

The people that made this happen include:

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