EPA School IPM Grant Fact Sheet 2012 Grantee: CESA 10 Expanding IPM in Wisconsin Schools Using the Cooperative Educational Service Agency Model Overview Funding Awarded: $49,205 Program Design /Record-Keeping / Training / Outreach / Transferability / Sustain ability Cooperative Educational Service Agency 10 (CESA 10), an educational agency providing Environmental Health and Safety services to school districts throughout Wisconsin, will apply a model to lead school Integrated Pest Management (IPM) throughout the state. The organization will implement cost-effective pest management services in 13 pilot schools, then offer the service to other contracted districts (100+) throughout Wisconsin serving more than 87,500 K-12 students in over 240 school buildings. The "CESA Model" of cooperative affordable services is known as a beneficial and economical tool for sharing best practices. The project will develop outreach tools, host informational sessions, and collect and review data to ensure positive environmental, public health, economic, and community outcomes. Throughout this project, CESA 10 will offer school districts compliance reviews, employee training, and full access to informational materials for free to reduce barriers to adopting verifiable school IPM. This program will pave the way to school IPM programs within the entire state of Wisconsin, with the potential to benefit more than 850,000 K-12 public school students. Objectives Make CESA 10 the leadership entity in Wisconsin to encourage schools to adopt verifiable school IPM. Provide IPM guidance for all CESA 10 contracted K-12 schools with no less than 75% of schools at full school IPM implementation at the end of the project. Provide, free-of-charge, expert IPM services to 75 percent of CESA 10's contracted schools in 6-18 months. Work with partner school districts to gain buy-in for school IPM. Provide quality information on verifiable school EPM to school stakeholders through various outreach events. Use baseline and follow-up data to show that project activities had a significance impact on IPM adoption in Wisconsin, the health and safety of school children and staff, and the environment. Programs & Activities Outreach: Informational brochures and materials, announcements at statewide events including the State Education Convention, presentations, templates, and Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials newsletter articles. Information Gathering & Sharing and Knowledge Transfer: Peer-sharing opportunities, preparation of quarterly data check sheets, educational presentations encouraging school boards to have policies reviewed and approved, meetings with key school stakeholder groups, and meetings with the Wisconsin School Safety Coordinators Association. EPA's EnvironmentalStemtrdship Branch promotes environmental stewardship to protect human health and the environment through information exchange, education and promotion, technical assistance, and grant opportunities. For more information, visit httn://www.epa.gov/pestwise/ ------- Programs and Activities (continued) Training & Certifications: Pilot Programs and Direct Training: A variety of training events will be conducted to raise not only proficiency in verifiable school IPM, but also increase the number of staff in schools who can implement IPM within described policy frameworks. County Clean Sweeps: Schedule periodic disposable events for chemicals that are 110 longer safe or in use. Desired Outcomes • CESA 10 staff will become IPM subject matter experts during the first year of the project by completing courses on IPM Core Concepts, Wisconsin Pesticide Applicator Training (Schools) Turf and Landscape, Pesticide Applicator Training (Schools) Structural, and IPM for Facility Managers. The IPM Project Manager will train four other CESA 10 staff to build the IPM knowledge base of agency staff. CESA 10 staff will determine the IPM baseline for each of the contracted schools, and highlight the successes of 13 school districts. CESA 10 will make IPM implementation as easy as possible for all school districts in Wisconsin by providing informational products, statewide conference presentations, newsletters highlighting IPM, and facilitated sharing opportunities (webinars and regional meetings) to reduce redundant efforts and prevent unnecessary costs for simultaneous programs. The program will result in a 50 percent increase in the number of students and staff in Wisconsin's participating K-12 schools using and implementing verifiable IPM. 100 percent of partner school districts (84) will have a written policy regarding pesticide use that meets or exceeds the state requirements. The program will result in a reduced rate of student and staff absenteeism in participating schools. 75 percent of contracted school districts (63) will have a minimum of one person trained as a Wisconsin Pesticide Applicator. EPA'sEnvironmentalStewardship Branch promotes environmental stewardship to protect human health and the environment through information exchange, education and promotion, technical assistance, and grant opportunities. For more information, visit littp://w\yw.eDa.gov/nestwise/ ------- |