Course Sponsorship Application

Welcome

This site will help you submit an application to sponsor a pesticide applicator training course for New York State certification credits.

If you are looking for a course to attend for certification credits, see the course calendar.

An application completed through this web site is equivalent to submitting the printed application forms 44-10-6A (Certified Pesticide Applicator Training Course Application) and 44-10-6B (Instructor Application and Qualifications for Pesticide Applicator Training) to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Bureau of Pesticides Management.

Applications for new pesticide applicator training courses must be submitted at least 45 days prior to the commencement of the course to allow sufficient time for review, approval, and return of course approval documents to the sponsor. Course applications received fewer than 45 days before the course date will not be approved. Course applications are processed on a first in/first out basis. Plan accordingly if you need credit information in advance for course announcements.

Review course sponsor instructions for recertification and thirty-hour eligibility courses to ensure that you fully understand the requirements and responsibilities. You will find it helpful to have all necessary information handy before you start filling in the online form.

If you have questions about the application process or need to submit additional materials, contact the NYS DEC Bureau of Pesticides Management.

If you have questions or comments specifically about this web site, you can submit them directly to the development team at the Pesticide Sales and Use Reporting Group.

What Do You Need to Complete an Application?

  • A web browser with Javascript and session cookies enabled.

    Any modern graphical browser should work; the online application forms have been tested with Internet Explorer 6, Firefox 1.0+, Netscape 7.2+, Opera 8, and Safari. We recommend a minimum screen size of 800×600.

  • All the information you need to complete a course sponsorship application.

    (See details below.)

  • Enough time to enter the information onto the web pages with minimal interruptions.

    How much time will you need? We have observed that most people who have all the course information available when they start the online application are able to finish in 15 to 30 minutes. More complex course applications, especially if many instructors are involved, may take longer.

What information about the course will you need to provide?

As you complete the online application, you will fill out several forms. You can back up to change a previous form. However, to ensure that the application is complete, you cannot go on to the next form until you finish the one you are on.

You will find it very helpful to have all of this information handy before you start.

Course Title
Times and Places
The addresses (street address and city) and dates for the course. You may enter locations and dates for more than one course session. Some sessions may have either location or date “To Be Announced,” but at least one session must have a firm time and place.
Course Details
Target audience, expected attendance, “30-hour” eligibility, etc.
Applicable Categories.
A short description of the course.
A detailed agenda (may be uploaded as a separate file).
Methods used to monitor attendance to ensure that only people actually attending a course receive a course certificate.
You may upload a sample course “Certificate of Attendance”.
Sponsoring Organization and Contact Person
If contact information for the contact person is not yet available in the online database, you will be asked to provide it.
Instructors
You should list each instructor for the course. You can simply select instructors who have been previously entered in an online sponsorship application, but you will need to add new instructors. For newly added instructors, you will need contact information and credentials. Credentials include one or more of:
  • Formal education
  • Previous pesticide training
  • Previous experience as a pesticide training instructor
  • Relevant employment
  • Certification as a pesticide applicator. For New York State certifications, you will need the certification ID number, categories, and expiration date.

Note

  • The course agenda is probably the single largest piece of information you will need to enter. We strongly recommend writing the agenda before you start completing the online application. You should be able to copy and paste from a text editor into the application form.
  • If your course agenda is longer than 4000 characters, you will need to upload the file.
  • You will have an opportunity to upload an electronic copy of the “Certificate of Attendance” for your course while completing this web form. The certificate you upload should be complete except for the DEC-assigned course number and credits (which will not be available until your course is approved). If you choose not to upload an electronic copy of the “Certificate of Attendance” for your course, you must send a complete sample original course certificate to the DEC. The sample certificate must be received by the DEC at least 5 days prior to the start of the course; this sample certificate must include the DEC-assigned course number and credits.
  • You must return your properly executed Sign-in Rosters within 21 days of course completion. Failure to submit rosters within 21 days will result in denial of future course applications.

Using the Web Form to Submit a Course Sponsorship Application

  • The online course sponsorship application uses a “wizard” style interface — you will be taken through a series of forms to enter the information needed for your application. While filling out the forms, avoid using your browser’s “Back” and “Forward” buttons; instead, use the Back and Next buttons provided on the form itself.
  • Please fill out the Application Form completely. Your application will not be submitted to the DEC until you reach the final screen.
  • Information you enter while filling out the form is held temporarily at our web server until you submit the application. This temporary storage expires after about 30 minutes of inactivity. Each data entry page shows a time slightly before the current expiration time. Selecting the Back or Next button in the form (as well as some other interactions) resets the timer. If you leave the form partially completed for too long, prior entries will be lost; you will need to start again from the beginning. Coming soon: a longer timeout setting (60 minutes).
  • All information requested in this application is mandatory. Failure to provide any of the requested information will result in the application being rejected by the DEC as incomplete. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. Required fields on the online forms are usually indicated with required.
  • Explanations for using individual portions of the application form are provided on each page. You can hide these explanations by selecting the Hide Help button or display them again with the Show Help button.
  • Several fields allow for entry of longer text with multiple lines. (See, for example, the “Notes” field that appears on each page.) Unless otherwise stated, these text areas will accept up to 4000 characters of plain text. You should be able to copy and paste from your preferred word processor into those fields, if you wish. However, HTML is not accepted in those fields. For security reasons, the web server will reject any entry that looks as though it might be HTML. This includes any appearance of a ‘<’ character followed immediately by any letter or ‘!’.

Uploading Files

For your convenience, the web form will allow you to upload an electronic file containing the detailed course agenda or the Certificate of Attendance for your course. The maximum file size accepted by the system is 4 MB; this should be more than sufficient for most users. The following file types are accepted for upload, based on the file name extension:

  • Plain text (.txt)
  • “Rich Text Format” (.rtf)
  • Microsoft® Word (.doc)
  • WordPerfect® (.wpd)
  • Portable Document Format (.pdf)
  • Microsoft® Excel® (.xls)

Macintosh users need particular care here. Macintosh files do not always have a extension assigned to the file name, but a file upload is only accepted by the web server if it has one of the extensions listed.

Do not upload files that are encrypted or password-protected. (This is mainly a problem with PDF and Word files.)

Do not include linked or embedded images or other files. (For example, do not insert a PowerPoint file into a Word file and then upload the Word file.) There is a good chance that we will not be able to read the resulting file.

In general, the simpler the format, the better. Plain text will usually be adequate.

Files too large to upload or in other formats should be sent directly to DEC by USPS mail, either as hard-copy or on CD. Include sufficient information to allow DEC personnel to associate your separate mailing with the course sponsorship application (sponsoring organization, contact person name, course name).