LEWISTON – The Lewiston School Committee quickly passed a pesticide policy Monday, condensing both first and second readings into one night.

The new policy requires that pesticides be used only by licensed workers and only as a last resort in pest control. It also orders that parents who ask for notification be told five days before dangerous pesticides are used on school grounds. Warnings must be posted at the school two days before the chemicals are used.

All are required under a new state law.

But committee members also agreed to go a step beyond the state mandate. They voted to notify parents about the school system’s pesticide policy and their rights within it two times a year. State law requires they only be notified once.

Committee members said they wanted the change to ensure that parents know about the policy and remember their rights in case their child’s health changes during the school year.

The School Committee voted unanimously to pass the policy on both the first and second readings.

Committee rules require that policies are given a first reading during one meeting and a second reading during a later meeting, usually held a couple of weeks later.

The delay allows the public and committee members to discuss the impending policy.

But members agreed to suspend the rules Monday.

Committee Chairman James Handy said the move made sense since the pesticide policy was a matter of health and safety. He said the policy was not largely controversial and had been widely discussed at the state, local and administrative levels.

“It’s important to get it on the books right away,” he said.

A study three years ago found that most schools had no pesticide policy and that many unlicensed staff members were the ones treating schools with chemicals. To fix that, the Maine Board of Pesticide Control started requiring that schools have a pesticide control policy.

The policy requirement went into effect last month.

But an environmental specialist with the board said last week that he believes many school systems aren’t yet in compliance.

ltice@sunjournal.com

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