The California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s (DPR) School Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program promotes the adoption of IPM in schools and childcare facilities. The Healthy Schools Act (HSA) defines IPM as a pest management strategy that focuses on long-term prevention or suppression of pest problems through a combination of techniques such as: monitoring for pest presence and establishing treatment threshold levels, using non-chemical practices to make the habitat less conducive to pest development, improving sanitation, and using mechanical and physical controls. This strategy greatly reduces pest presence and the potential for pesticide exposure to students, teachers, and others at a school site.
