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School IPM: New Jersey School IPM Model Policy and Plan

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In New Jersey, all public, private, and charter schools are required to adopt an IPM Policy that includes a school-specific IPM Plan. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) in cooperation with the New Jersey School Boards Association, the Commissioner of Education, and Rutgers Cooperative Extension produced a Model School IPM Policy for for New Jersey Schools (PDF) for use by the schools. The Model Policy (last revised 9/03) stipulated that the school would also issue a plan of how School IPM would be implemented by June 12, 2004.

Accordingly, Rutgers Cooperative Extension and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection have jointly developed a ‘Model School IPM Plan for New Jersey Schools‘ that can be adapted and adopted by individual schools. The release date of the original Model Plan was May 31, 2004. This Plan was written to satisfy the requirements of the NJ School IPM Act (PDF) by the June 12, 2004 compliance date.

Based on NJDEP Pesticide Control Program School IPM regulations, N.J.A.C. 7:30-13.3 (called ‘subchapter 13’) (PDF) released later in November 2004, together we revised the Model Plan directions and basic 18-page narrative to now include the requirements of both the School IPM Act as well as its corresponding regulations; this revision 1 is dated July 18, 2004; a dated footer appears on all pages of the ‘basic plan’. This revision did not substantially change the content of the Plan. It moved ‘recommended’ duties to be ‘required’ duties of the School IPM Coordinator in accord with the regulations. There have been no changes to any of the forms or templates of the Appendices.

Make sure to check out the webpages for NEW JERSEY School IPM Act-defined ‘low impact pesticides’.

Use of our particular Model Plan is voluntary; you may develop your own. The ‘Model Plan for School IPM for New Jersey Schools’ is available in several formats:

  • Complete ‘Model School IPM Plan for New Jersey Schools’: Directions, Plan, & Appendices (this was previously called ‘Rev 1’) 7/18/04. (PDF)/(Word)
  • Directions: ‘How to Use the Model School IPM Plan for New Jersey Schools’. 7/18/04 (PDF)
  • Basic 18-page Model Plan (without Directions or Appendices). 7/18/04. (PDF)/(Word)
  • All Appendices only. (PDF)/(Word)
  • See individual Appendix links below.

See the section below for directions on how to use the Model Plan.

How to Use the ‘Model School IPM Plan for New Jersey Schools’

The design of the Model School IPM Plan is to give you compliance guidelines plus the tools you need to comply. In the Model Plan, we specify what things you MUST do to be in compliance with the New Jersey School IPM Act and its associated regulations. We also provide you with many easy-to-follow recommendations that will make your implementation of IPM simple. Use of the Model Plan itself is voluntary; edit it to suit your needs. We have attached as appendices many ready-to-use forms and/or resources (see #5 below for a list and description of each). You choose your tools, who is involved and how much they are involved.

  1. First, fill out when the Plan will be in effect.
  2. Include all the basic information about your school.
  3. Determine who will help implement IPM at your school. Individuals may already be practicing many of the items listed as part of their existing responsibilities. You may not have all of the individuals listed in this Model Plan in your own School Community. The Plan lets you define how the school community will come together to implement IPM at your school, including how they will be trained in their School IPM responsibilities. If there is a form noted in one of the check off boxes, it is located in the Appendix.
  4. Determine what IPM practices you will implement at your school in the rest of the Plan. We give you what you must do to be in compliance plus options for you to choose to do so using check off boxes, filling in forms, as well as doing site maps. Work your way through these sections and indicate in the Plan how your school will comply for the next school year. Make sure to clearly outline the communication and decision process to include all members of the school community. The Plan should be reviewed and revised annually to address changing pest management needs.
  5. To make compliance simpler, we have attached as appendices to the Model School IPM Plan for New Jersey Schools many  ready-to-use forms and/or resources (DOC). All of the forms below are available online as both Word or Adobe Acrobat files for you to simply fill in the blanks. Just print either type of file if you intend to write or type in information in the blanks; OR save as a Word file to your computer and directly edit in your school’s information.

There are six sample notification and posting documents that were specifically prepared by the NJDEP that meet the minimum requirements of the law. Each is provided below and asterisked.   1) Policy; 2)Plan; 3) Annual School IPM Program Notification Letter to Parents & Staff;  4) Pre-Notification of the Use of Non-Low Impact Pesticides; 5) School IPM act Compliance Certification Form; and 6) Posting Sign (for indoors & outdoors) ‘Notice of Pesticide Application’

The other forms are provided as resources to streamline and clearly document the adoption of IPM in your school. The sample forms and templates are tools that you may use to be in compliance but their use is voluntary.

  • Model School IPM Policy* (PDF)/(Word). Fill-in-the-blank School IPM Policy; a policy is required by the Act to be adopted by the school by June 12, 2004.
  • Pest Problem Report (to School IPM Coordinator) (PDF)/(Word): Checklist of common pests for staff to report pest presence and activity to the School IPM Coordinator or other designee.
  • Food Services Areas Report (to School IPM Coordinator) (PDF)/(Word): Checklist fill-in-form for kitchen staff to report pest presence and activity in the food service areas to the School IPM Coordinator or other designee. Includes boxes for daily sanitation inspection.
  • IPM Pest Activity Monitoring and Control Log (PDF)/(Word): The School IPM Coordinator or other designee can use this to compile all pest reports (for example, the 2 forms above, monitoring and results, and sightings) in the left hand section of the form. Once the problem is defined and a choice of least toxic pest control is determined and carried out, it is logged in the right hand section of the form next to the original pest recording.
  • Sample Indoor Pest Thresholds (PDF)/(Word): This is a sample threshold list for indoor pests that should be revised to your school’s thresholds for these common pests.Add additional pests if needed.
  • IPM Priorities Checklist (PDF)/(Word): This list is designed for the School IPM Coordinator or other designee to compile the specific pest management actions needed to be completed in key areas of the school at a given point in time. The checklist fill-in-form is designed to identify where the problem(s) are located as well as note who will be the responsible party to carry out the task checked off. This checklist can also be used as a training tool for the School Community as it lists many pest prevention tactics that they may help carry out.
  • Pesticide Application Log (PDF)/(Word): The School IPM Coordinator or designee would use this log to regularly compile all pesticides used at the school. This is a good record to keep on hand for public inquiries and to complete the ‘Annual Notification’ list of pesticides used at the school.
  • Annual School IPM Program Notification Letter to Parents & Staff*(PDF)/(Word): The School Administration, or their designee such as the School IPM Coordinator, is required by the Act to issue an annual IPM Program notice to the parents and or guardians of all enrolled students and all staff. This is essentially a cover letter that outlines what you have enclosed in the notice. See the Model Plan and sample form for details.
  • Pre-Notification of the Use of Pesticides* (PDF)/(Word) (72 hour pre-notification): The School Administration, or their designee such as the School IPM Coordinator, is required by the Act to issue a notice of all non low impact pesticide use to the parents and or guardians of all enrolled students and all staff. See the Model Plan and sample form for details.
  • Emergency Pesticide Use Notification* (PDF)/(Word): The School Administration, or their designee such as the School IPM Coordinator, is required by the Act to issue a notice of all emergency use of non low impact pesticides to the parents and or guardians of all enrolled students and all staff. See the Model Plan and sample form for details.
  • School Integrated Pest Management Act Compliance Certification Form*(PDF)/(Word): When requested by an applicator, the School Administration, or their designee such as the School IPM Coordinator, must provide certification that they have issued all Act-required notifications and posting of non low impact pesticide application. See the Model Plan and sample form for details.
  • Posting Sign (for indoors & outdoors) ‘Notice of Pesticide Application’*(PDF)/(Word): Template sign for posting of non low impact pesticide applications. See the Model Plan and template sign for details of when, where, and how to post.
  • ‘Summary of the Key Requirements of the School IPM Act’ Fact Sheet (PDF only): This is a Rutgers Cooperative Extension fact sheet that summarizes the key requirements of the Act for use in education of the school community and for inquiries from the public.
  • The New Jersey School IPM Act (PDF only): This is a verbatim copy of the public law in case you need further clarification of what is required of the school.

* use of this form meets minimum compliance requirements of NJ School IPM Act

For New Jersey School IPM questions and resources:

  • Contact  Michelle Newman of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection at Michelle.Newman@dep.nj.gov.
  • Contact Pat Hastings – NJAES School IPM Outreach Coordinator for NJ, and  Extension Pesticide Safety Education Program Coordinator, Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Cooperative Extension Pest Management Office at 848-932-9802. Email hastings@njaes.rutgers.edu if you need assistance downloading the Plan.