BANGOR – Dozens of Maine parents feed their children organic vegetables, avoid lawn chemicals and clean their homes with natural products to shield them from exposure to pesticides. But the public schools where these same children spend eight hours each day can be sprayed with any number of chemicals, and most parents will never know.

Under pressure from activist parents, state regulators are considering new rules that would drastically change how schools approach pesticide use.

More than 70 percent of Maine’s schools use pesticides to control weeds on sports fields, fungus in locker rooms or lice in classrooms, according to a survey of schools released in 2000 by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources.

Only a small percentage of these schools have a plan in place determining when and where the chemicals should be used, however, and even fewer require that parents be notified of applications.

Parents, pesticide applicators and environmental advocates Thursday debated a rule proposed by the Board of Pesticide Control that would require all Maine schools to draft such a plan.

Integrated pest management plans, as the documents are known, have become common in industrial settings and are encouraged by many pest control businesses.

An integrated pest management plan sets forth a hierarchy of remedies, from preventive measures like filling wall cracks and eliminating food sources, to laying mousetraps or, finally, calling in a professional pesticide applicator to kill a pest population. Simpler and safer remedies for a pest problem must be exhausted before toxic chemicals are considered.

Environmentalists like the plans because they reduce use of the most toxic chemicals. Corporations like them because they save money.

Last year, an environmental group called the Maine Toxics Action Coalition asked the Board of Pesticide Control to consider a rule requiring schools to use integrated pest management, with the dual intention of educating the public about pesticides and discouraging the use of toxic substances in schools, said Kathleen McGee, director of the coalition.

The board rejected the environmentalists’ proposal, and instead convened a group made up of school superintendents, environmental groups and pesticide applicators to draft a rule on school pesticide use.

“Not everybody got what they wanted, but what they did walk out with was something that was workable,” said Ted St. Amand, an exterminator from Kennebunkport who served on the committee.

The draft rule requires that every school draft a plan, then train and designate a staff person to coordinate pest management.

Airborne pesticides are only to be used when a pest problem threatens the health or safety of students and staff. When they are used, the application must be done after hours – preferably on a weekend or during school vacation – when no one is in the building.

Finally, the rule addresses a family’s right to know what pesticides are being used. It requires schools to send home a notice asking parents if they want to join a pesticide registry and be informed of each application.

As the public becomes more informed and opinionated about pesticide use, the right-to-know issue has become more important among parents statewide, environmentalists said.

“How can one look a child in the eye and tell them that they are not worthy of protecting – especially in light of mounting evidence around pesticides and the damage they do to those most precious to us?” Leslie Poole of Belfast said Thursday. “Shame on anyone who would put our children in harm’s way.”

“It’s only fair that the public be notified,” added Denise Barbieri of Lamoine. “That’s the least we can do.”

Environmentalists on Thursday criticized the registry portion of the rule, saying that all parents need to be informed and educated about pesticide use.

School districts have countered that mass mailings to parents would be prohibitively expensive.

Several pesticide applicators also challenged portions of the proposed rule that they believe could limit their ability to do their job well. The restrictions on airborne pesticides such as the “threat to health and safety” requirement are too strict, exterminators said.

Trust the experts, they said, asking that professional standards for plans be incorporated into Maine’s rule. They also advocate the certification of school personnel for pest management.

“We want to protect the public – that’s why certification is there,” said Richard Stevenson Jr. of Modern Pest Services in Brunswick.

Written comments on the proposed integrated pest management rule that are received by 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 17, will be considered by the board. Comments may be sent to Robert Batteese, Board of Pesticides Control, 28 State House Station, Augusta 04333-0028 or robert.battesse@state.me.us.