Our Schools

Pest Control

Facilities Maintenance provides pest control service to all buildings at no cost to the site. Buildings are inspected for roaches, rodents, and other pests on a regular basis. When pests are found, appropriate action is taken to control them.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program

Structural and landscape pests can pose significant problems for people, property and the environment. Pesticides and herbicides pose the same. Mansfield ISD has chosen to use IPM strategies to control pests.

If you have a need for emergency service, please call the Maintenance Service Desk at 817-299-4340 prior to submitting a work order. You will find examples of emergencies below. 

Do not bring pesticides of any kind onto MISD property. This is illegal and can result in fines of up to $5,000/day/occurrence. If found on school property, they will be confiscated and disposed of without the consent of the purchaser. Any person bringing pesticides of any form onto MISD property will face potential disciplinary action. 

Pesticide treatments are limited to only specific, targeted pests. in specific areas. We are not allowed to simply, “spray the building,” or “spray the hallways for bugs,” so please do not ask us to do so. Give us a room number or some other landmark we can use to find the problem area and a description of the pest. 

To prevent infestations :

  • Store all food in airtight containers to discourage foraging ants, roaches, rodents, etc., from infesting the area.
  • Clean all crumbs and spilled food immediately -- never leave it out overnight.
  • Do not leave open soft drink containers sitting around as they attract ants and roaches which feed on the sweet syrup inside.
  • When possible, take children to the cafeteria for snack times so that food crumbs do not get spread all over your classroom. Even a tiny cracker crumb would be a feast to an ant so if you do allow children to have snacks in your room, be sure to clean up thoroughly after every snack time.
  • Keep exterior hallway doors closed to prevent insects and rodents from entering the building from outdoors.

Reporting Infestations

Be as specific as possible about the location of pests when writing work requests or calling in reports to the Maintenance Office. Example: Fire Ants sighted in room 12 between the window and teacher’s cabinet. Example: Mouse seen in hallway between room 114 and the exit door leading to the parking lot. Example: Small, black, crawling insects of some sort are underneath the door mat to room 10-8.

For ants, if you can tell us what sort of ant was seen it will help us find the source and treat for them effectively. We do not need scientific names, but if we know whether it was a Fire Ant (they sting, build dirt mounds and are aggressive) or if it was Pharaoh/Sugar Ant (tiny little orange or tan colored ants that can not sting) it will help us figure out the best treatment regimen to control the problem. If we do not know what kind of ants are in the area ahead of time, we will have to search for and find one. If none are present when our contractor shows up, their hands will be tied as to what they can do in response to the problem because they won’t know what type of pesticide to use. If he used the wrong pesticide, he could actually make your problem worse. 

The presence of Bees and/or Wasps may be considered an emergency since reactions to their stings can be severe. Single or small groups of bees or wasps, such as those simply foraging around flower beds, trash cans or shrubs can not be sprayed with pesticides since they are randomly flying about. It would be environmentally harmful to spray pesticide into the air in the hope that maybe the bee would be exposed sufficiently for it to die, but in the meantime we would be coating the whole area in poison. On the other hand, if we know where the nest is, we can eliminate it very effectively with the use of a minimal amount of Green List chemicals and by timing our application for early morning while the entire colony is on the nest. Call the Maintenance Department when bees or wasps have stung someone, or if a nest is found. Be prepared to identify the exact location of the bee or wasp nest.