LAUSD to Start Over on Policy for Pesticides

Los Angeles Unified School District officials scrapped a proposal Thursday to reduce pesticide spraying on campuses after parents and environmentalists said the plan would fail to halt the use of dangerous chemicals.

The district’s pest-control managers will now select a committee of about 10 people to draft a new policy. That group is expected to include district staff, parents, environmental regulators and others.

District officials had crafted the new policy at the urging of parents from Sherman Oaks Elementary School, who began lobbying after a March incident in which they say a gardener accidentally sprayed their children with a pesticide.

The school district disputed the March incident at Sherman Oaks Elementary, acknowledging that the gardener was spraying, but contending that he was several hundred feet away from arriving children.

The proposal that grew out of that incident called for the district to stop using chemicals determined to be carcinogens. It also called for the formation of a committee to review the policy and district practices.

But school board member Julie Korenstein, who had introduced the measure last month, withdrew it Thursday after the activists showed up at a hearing and reiterated their complaints.

“We want to come up with the safest plan for our children,” Korenstein said. “At the same time, we don’t want to [allow an] epidemic of rodents.”

Parents and environmentalists were cheered by Korenstein’s decision.

“It is a victory,” said Robina Suwol, who contends that her 6-year-old son was caught in the gardener’s spray in March. “That [proposed] policy was a self-promoting policy for the district. It was really ludicrous.”

The Sherman Oaks parents and the environmentalist who helped coordinate their campaign have expressed concern about having a voice in the rule-making process, and questioned whether the committee would have the authority to set policy.

“Somebody’s eyes on the committee need to be on the growing body of evidence that links these pesticides with the adverse health effects,” said Christina Graves, an organizer with the nonprofit group Pesticide Watch.

The school district uses nearly 60 pesticides, most of which aren’t available to the public.

District officials defended their pest-control program, saying they use pesticides only as a last resort--after traps and other measures are exhausted.

The officials said that the school district’s pest-control program was recognized in 1994 by the state Environmental Protection Agency for its innovative practices.

“We don’t resort to chemicals as a first resort,” Lynn Roberts, director of maintenance and operations for the district, told a school board committee Thursday. “We do believe we are on the forefront of the pesticide issue.”

Still, outside experts challenged the district’s reliance on pesticides.

“We do know that pesticides cause cancer,” Felix Aguilar, a doctor from Harbor-UCLA Family Health Center, told a news conference held by the parents and environmental groups. “It is best to prevent exposure to pesticides. These chemicals simply should not be used in a child’s environment.”