Beverly Cleary's Ramona is not the biggest pest in her classroom.

Reported cases of critter-related allergies in children areup, and according to a study in the Journal of the AmericanMedical Association earlier this year, a 50 percent increasein pesticide-related illnesses in Midwestern children occurred between 1998 and 2002.

Pests and pesticides pose serious health risks to children,says Marc Lame, an entomologist in Indiana University 's Schoolof Public and Environmental Affairs, and the current heavy-handedapplication of pesticides in and around schools isn't working.Lame believes there's a way to reduce schoolchildren's exposureto pests and pesticides simultaneously -- and it may even saveour cash-strapped schools some money.

In November, Lame and colleagues at the University of Arizonawill present preliminary data to the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency from their studies of Integrated Pest Management, a morerational method of pest control that prescribes fewer pesticides,a more strategic application of those pesticides, and differentsanitation practices, among other things. The data was collectedfrom schools around the country that volunteered to try IPM.

After adopting the technique, the Monroe County Community SchoolCorporation in Bloomington documented a 90 percent drop in pestproblems and pesticide application in its schools. The E.P.A.provides more information about IPM at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/ipm/.

That IPM hasn't become standard practice in the nation's schoolsmay seem surprising. IPM reduces pesticides, reduces pests, andcosts less money. It's beginning to catch on. The Universityof Arizona , for example, runs a statewide Coalition for IntegratedPest Management in Schools. No equivalent program exists in Indiana, although the Indiana Department of Environmental Managementrecently sponsored a program in support of statewide IPM educationefforts.

IPM's cluster of preventive approaches (cultural, mechanical,and biological) are easy to implement, Lame says, because theycan be incorporated into schools' existing custodial and maintenanceactivities, such as sanitation, energy conservation, buildingsecurity, and infrastructure maintenance. Thorough cleaning ofkitchens and cafeterias, the sealing of gaps and cracks, storingfood in airtight containers, and routine monitoring are a fewof the techniques shown to keep pests away from schools.

Over the last ten years, Lame has spoken with hundreds of schooladministrators and teachers. Most are unaware of the public healthproblems associated with excess pesticide exposure. To exposethe problems associated with pesticide use in schools and outlinethe practical implementation of IPM, Lame published A Wormin the Teacher's Apple: Protecting America's School Childrenfrom Pests and Pesticides (Authorhouse 2005).