IPM STAR School Profiles: Miwaukee, Wisconsin Public Schools

MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Milwaukee, WI

To view the press release, click here.

November 18, 2004

The City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin sits on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan. It’s only fitting then, that Milwaukee Public School (MPS) staff and students benefit from one of the most environmentally conscious pest management programs in the US.

In 2002, Milwaukee’s school board passed a resolution committing the board to work with Citizens for a Better Environment, a local advocacy group, to improve IPM education and implementation. The program covers the district’s 154 schools, 60 recreational sites and impacts 103,000 students.

IPM at MPS had its beginnings in 1988, when Josef Roca, now Manager of Buildings, Grounds and Fleet and Michael Gutierrez, now Project Manager for Buildings, Grounds and Fleet, were first promoted to supervisor rank. Tom Williams was director of plant operations at that time, and Williams, Roca and Gutierrez recognized a need for formal training in pest management. Roca and Gutierrez began attending industry seminars, and passing on what they had learned to building engineers and others through training sessions. The district hired a trainer responsible for all facets of school maintenance, housekeeping and other related duties including pest management. That position has since been lost to budget cuts.

To further improve staff performance and professionalism, Josef Roca along with City of Milwaukee and Local 950 of the International Union of Operating Engineers officials, came to an agreement to make the State of Wisconsin’s 7.1 Structural Applicator’s license and certificate a job requirement for all classifications of engineer with the Milwaukee Public Schools.

Milwaukee’s program is a standout nationally on three counts: Frequent, effective training of maintenance staff, quarterly inspections of each facility by Building Operations supervisors, and the commitment to sanitation by everyone from supervisors to front line staff at each building.

Harvey Klumb, pest management crew leader, now leads the training effort. He holds a day and evening training session for building operations staff every Tuesday. The two-hour class covers all of the issues required for certification and licensing exams for pesticide applicators and building engineers. About 15 sessions are required to cover all of the material, including rodent monitoring and trapping, sanitation and correcting pest-conducive conditions. Klumb’s success as an educator is evident in that 60 to 70% of his students pass their state exams the first time, one of the best passing rates in the state. Bruce Montcalm, who along with Klumb is responsible for helping building engineers resolve pest issues, assists Klumb.

MPS has three supervisors who conduct quarterly inspections. Each has a list of facilities they will visit and evaluate, recording results on an extensive form that covers not only buildings and grounds maintenance, but also the presence of pests or conditions conducive to pest activity, such as broken screens or windows, dripping faucets or leaky pipes. MPS’s pro-active approach involves Gutierrez and the supervisors in the early stages of new construction and renovation projects, reviewing designs and plans for pest-related issues, and suggesting changes where necessary to ensure adequate pest proofing.

An outstanding commitment to sanitation is evident in mechanical rooms, storerooms, custodial closets and other areas that are often overlooked for thorough cleaning. Particularly in older school facilities, it’s not uncommon to find stacks of old furniture, books and equipment tucked away in otherwise unused portions buildings. Not so at MPS. “The floors in the mechanical rooms looked clean enough to eat off of,” reports Tom Green, President of the IPM Institute, who conducted the evaluation. “The inside of the trash cans, underneath the plastic liners, are also often overlooked for regular cleaning, but not at MPS.”

Building engineers are responsible for maintaining clean and uncluttered buildings and grounds, and also serve as the IPM front line when pest problems occur, including assessing and solving the issue whenever possible. “We used to have a (pest reporting) form that didn’t put any responsibility on the building engineer,” says Gutierrez. “Now we make sure the engineer is doing everything he or she can do before Bruce or Harvey have to go out.” Each school has a weed-eater, for trimming where mowers don’t reach. Ice scrapers are also used for weed management, to remove weeds growing up through pavement.

MPS’s problem-solving approach is evident in improvements made at South Division High School, one of the facilities selected for on-site evaluation as part of the IPM STAR certification. Frequent rodent, ant and cockroach problems in the past were greatly reduced by improving sanitation. MPS staff cleaned up the receiving area at the school, inside and out. They moved dumpsters away from the building, and worked with the city to remove trash and manage weeds on adjacent vacant lots. MPS also changed the waste removal contractor district-wide, to improve dumpster quality and maintenance, and increase frequency of trash pickup.

Further evidence of a well-managed program is excellent staff retention. Roca has 34 years with the system, Gutierrez has 29 years; Klumb has 14 years and Montcalm 7 years. Sandra Hudy, a Building Operations supervisor who conducts quarterly inspections of facilities among other duties, has 17 years on the job. Bill Kay, building engineer at South Division, has 35 years with MPS. Kay is a very satisfied member of the IPM team, describing the program as “110% better than when I started.”

SCHOOLS
schools, childcare centers
school-age child programs

PROFESSIONALS
educators
administrators

SERVICES & FACILITIES
GREEN SHIELD CERTIFIED structural pest management service and facilities