Discovery Community School and Carl Sandburg Elementary share more than a building; they share a common desire to keep their kids as safe from pesticides as possible. Because the campus is herbicide-free, parents and kids at these schools regularly pull weeds and spread mulch.
It began in 1999 when Kirkland nurse and DCS parent Jill Albinger noticed that the district was using 60 gallons of a combination of Surflan, RoundUp and Signal at her children's school. (Surflan is listed as a U.S. EPA possible carcinogen, according to the Washington Toxics Coalition.)
So began Jill's quest for pesticide-free grounds for the schools in the Lake Washington district. Three years later, she went on to work at the state level. The Children's Pesticide Right-to-Know Act passed in July 2002, requiring that schools notify parents when and where pesticides are used. Forty-eight hour notice prior to application is now required for any parent who requests notification.
Pesticides still used
Unfortunately, "no herbicides" doesn't mean "no pesticides." Although the LWSD and others (including the Seattle School District) only use pesticides that have the U.S. EPA designation "caution" as opposed to "warning" or "danger-poison," they are still being used. Some districts use what is called an "Integrated Pest Management" (IPM) program to try to reduce the use of the more toxic chemicals by using less toxic techniques first, including a watch-and-wait, bait-or-trap approach.
However, pesticides are still used "when monitoring indicates that vegetation or an insect pest will cause unacceptable medical, economic, or aesthetic injury." (From the LWSD Parent Information pamphlet, 2006.)
There are 19 insecticides on the LWSD IPM list from 2004-2005, the latest version available from Support Services. And after three years with children in the district, I have yet to receive a notice of pesticide use, though I did notice an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper taped to the front door of the school once that said an exterminator sprayed for bees. I wouldn't have known otherwise.
Meanwhile, here at Carl Sandburg and Discovery Community School, we get together and show community support in a very tangible way, and eliminate at least the herbicide use.
Gretchen Colonius is a Discovery Community School parent and chair of the school's grounds committee.
For more information:
* WA State Department of Agriculture, 877-301-4555
* EPA, Seattle branch, 206-553-1200
* Washington Toxics Coalition, 206-632-1545
* At LWSD, contact Jane Jobe, jjobe@lwsd.org.[[In-content Ad]]
