New York Laws
Article 9 - School Buildings and Sites
409-H - Requirements for Notification of Pesticide Applications.

(a) "School" shall mean any public school district or private or
parochial school or board of cooperative educational services.
(b) "Pesticide" shall have the same meaning as in subdivision
thirty-five of section 33-0101 of the environmental conservation law.
(c) "Facility" means any school building used for instructional
purposes and its surrounding grounds, sites and other grounds to be used
for playgrounds, athletics and other instructional purposes, and any
administrative offices.
(d) "Written notification" shall mean notice in writing that is:
provided directly to the student or staff; or delivered to a receptacle
designated for that student or staff; or mailed to the student's or
staff's last known address; or delivered by any other reasonable methods
authorized by the commissioner.
(e) "School year" shall mean the period commencing on the first day of
regular instruction and shall end on the last day of session.
(f) "Relevant facility" shall mean any facility where the staff person
receiving notification regularly works or where a child of the person in
parental relation receiving notification regularly receives instruction.
2. Schools shall establish a pesticide notification procedure to
provide information on pesticide applications at school facilities.
Schools shall provide written notification of pesticide applications at
any relevant facility to staff and persons in parental relation
according to the following provisions:
(a) The school shall provide written notification to all staff and
persons in parental relation at the beginning of each school year.
Provided however, that if a child enrolls after the beginning of the
school year, notification shall be provided within one week of such
enrollment. The notification provided at the beginning of the school
year shall include at a minimum the following information:
(i) a statement that pesticide products may be used periodically
throughout the school year;
(ii) a statement that schools are required to maintain a list of staff
and persons in parental relation who wish to receive forty-eight hour
prior written notification of pesticide applications at relevant
facilities, and instructions on how to register with the school to be on
such list for notification; and
(iii) the name of a school representative and contact number to obtain
further information.
(b) Within ten days of the end of the school year and within two
school days of the end of winter recess and spring recess, the school
shall provide written notification to all staff and persons in parental
relation listing the date, location and product used, for each
application which required prior notification and each emergency
application made, at relevant facilities, during the period of time
since the previous notice. Such notification shall also include a
statement that schools are required to maintain a list of staff and
persons in parental relation who wish to receive forty-eight hour prior
written notification of pesticide applications and instructions on how
to register with the school to be on such list for prior notification;
how to obtain further information about the products being applied,
including any warnings that appear on the label of the pesticides that
are pertinent to the protection of humans, animals or the environment;
and the name of a school representative and contact number for
additional information.
(c) Each school shall establish and maintain a list of staff and
persons in parental relation requesting written notification forty-eight
hours in advance of pesticide applications at relevant facilities.
Schools shall add any staff or person in parental relation to such list
upon request.
(d) Not less than forty-eight hours prior to the application of a
pesticide at a facility, a school shall provide to those on the list
relevant to such facility, written notification which shall include, at
a minimum the following information:
(i) the specific date and location of the application at the relevant
facility. In case of outdoor applications the notice must provide a
specific date, and may include two alternative dates in case the
application cannot be made due to weather conditions;
(ii) the product name and pesticide registration number assigned by
the United States Environmental Protection Agency;
(iii) the following statements: "This notice is to inform you of a
pending pesticide application to a school facility. You may wish to
discuss with the designated school representative what precautions are
being taken to protect your child from exposure to these pesticides.
Further information about the product(s) being applied, including any
warnings that appear on the label of the pesticide(s) that are pertinent
to the protection of humans, animals or the environment, can be obtained
by calling the National Pesticide Telecommunications Network information
phone number 1-800-858-7378 or the New York State Department of Health
Center for Environmental Health Info line at 1-800-458-1158."; and
(iv) the name of a school representative and contact number for
additional information.
(e) For purposes of this section the following pesticide applications
shall not be subject to prior notification requirements:
(i) the application of anti-microbial pesticides and anti-microbial
products as defined by FIFRA in 7 U.S.C. § 136 (mm) and 136q (h)(2);
(ii) the use of an aerosol product with a directed spray, in
containers of eighteen fluid ounces, or less, when used to protect
individuals from an imminent threat from stinging and biting insects
including venomous spiders, bees, wasps, and hornets. This section shall
not exempt from notification the use of any fogger product or aerosol
product that discharges to a wide area;
(iii) any application where the school facility remains unoccupied for
a continuous seventy-two hour period following the application of the
pesticide;
(iv) nonvolatile rodenticides in tamper resistant bait stations or in
areas inaccessible to children;
(v) silica gels and other nonvolatile ready-to-use, paste, foam or gel
formulations of insecticides in areas inaccessible to children;
(vi) nonvolatile insecticidal baits in tamper resistant bait stations
or in areas inaccessible to children;
(vii) application of a pesticide classified by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency as an exempt material under Section 40
CFR Part 152.25;
(viii) boric acid and disodium octaborate tetrahydrate;
(ix) the application of a pesticide which the United States
Environmental Protection Agency has determined satisfies its reduced
risk criteria, including a biopesticide; or
(x) any emergency application of a pesticide when necessary to protect
against an imminent threat to human health, provided however, that prior
to any such emergency application, the person making such application
shall make a good faith effort to supply the written notice required
pursuant to this section. Upon making such an emergency application, the

person making such application shall notify the commissioner of the
department of health, using a form developed by the commissioner for
such purposes that shall include minimally the name of the person making
the application, the pesticide business registration number or certified
applicator number of the person making such application, the location
and date of such application, the product name and USEPA registration
number of the pesticide applied and the reason for such application. The
commissioner shall review such form to ensure that the circumstance did
warrant such emergency application. Such forms shall be kept on file at
the department for three years from the date of application and shall be
available to any individual upon request.
3. The commissioner is hereby charged with ensuring the compliance of
schools with the requirements of this section, and shall establish a
procedure for parents to notify the state of any school's failure to
comply with the requirements of this section. Whenever it shall have
been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the commissioner that a school
district has failed to adopt a procedure for notification, or to
faithfully and completely implement this section, the commissioner may,
on thirty days notice to the district, withhold from the district monies
to be paid to such district for the current school year pursuant to
section thirty-six hundred nine-a of this chapter, exclusive of monies
to be paid in respect of obligations to the retirement systems for the
school and district staff and pursuant to collective bargaining
agreements. Where it has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the
commissioner that a private or parochial school has failed to adopt a
procedure for notification, or to faithfully and completely implement
this section, the commissioner may, on thirty days notice to such
school, withhold from the school state aid monies to be paid to such
school for the current school year pursuant to chapter five hundred
seven of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-four, as amended by
chapter nine hundred three of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-four.
Prior to such withholding, the commissioner shall provide the school an
opportunity to present evidence of extenuating circumstances; when
combined with evidence that the school shall promptly comply within
short time frames that shall be established by the commissioner as part
of an agreement between the school and the commissioner, the
commissioner may temporarily stay the withholding of such funds pending
implementation of such agreement. If the school is in full compliance
with this section, the commissioner shall abate the withholding in its
entirety.
4. No school or employee of a school shall be held civilly or
criminally liable for any failure to comply with the requirements of
this section, unless such failure constitutes negligence, gross
negligence, or intentional misconduct. Nothing contained herein shall be
construed as limiting any legal cause of action or remedy at law, in
statute or in equity that existed prior to the effective date of this
section.