How to Deep Clean a School
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When parents send their kids off to school, they want to feel secure about all students having a safe, healthy environment for learning. They want to know the schools are doing their due diligence to minimize the germs passing between children. Having your child bring germs home from school and inevitably getting the entire family sick is something all parents would like to avoid.
Students and teachers getting sick at school is costly, more so than most realize. When kids have to stay home sick from school, they miss out on valuable education time, and parents often have to stay home or pay for childcare for the day.?
Teachers’ sick days have bigger consequences than most professions. Not only does a teacher’s sick time off affect students’ educational experience and disrupt their learning, but it can also be costly as the school will need to find substitutes.?
Overall, protecting everyone from germs like cold, flu, Covid, and other viruses and bacteria is necessary for keeping schools running properly. Not only will teachers and students get sick less frequently, but a clean school helps improve the morale of adults and kids alike to keep the focus on learning.
This school deep cleaning expert guide for administrators will expand on the importance and benefits of deep cleaning. You’ll find everything you need to know about deep cleaning schools with a free school deep cleaning procedures checklist.
The Importance of Deep Cleaning for Schools, Students, and Teachers
Simply dusting desks and tables and sweeping or vacuuming floors is not enough to keep kids, teachers, and administrators healthy in schools. In order for a school to function properly and keep its students, teachers, and admin safe, it is vital to conduct periodic deep cleanings. Emphasizing focus on high-touch surfaces, high-traffic areas, and removing germs, especially during cold and flu season.?
Here are all the biggest reasons to invest in better school cleaning services for the sake of teachers, students, and the community as a whole.
Prevents illness from spreading
The pandemic made us all more aware of how easily rampant illnesses can spread throughout communities. It’s not just the teachers and students who are affected by out-of-control germs at school, contact tracing during the pandemic showed us how just being in the vicinity can affect future presence and participation.
Whenever staff, faculty, students, or visitors, catch something at school, they bring those germs home with them to friends and family, or out into the public. Therefore, cleaner schools help contribute to an overall healthier community.
Helps prevent allergy and asthma symptoms
Neglected school facilities put children and adults with asthma and allergies at higher risk for reactions. From serious, life-threatening reactions to symptoms that are merely distracting, deep-cleaning helps reduce the incidence of asthma and allergy symptoms. Allowing the preservation of safety and quality of education for students.
Nurtures a healthy, positive learning environment
All educators know a child’s basic physical needs must be met before they can effectively learn and thrive. Unfortunately, some evidence suggests too many kids are subject to subpar conditions at school.
According to one survey, as many as 90% of schoolchildren say the state of their school restrooms has negatively affected them emotionally or physically. 30% said trying to avoid school bathrooms detracted from their concentration, and 12% admitted they refuse to eat or drink at school to avoid school restrooms. These statistics are alarming, to say the least.
Improves student retention rates
When running a private school, a high cleaning standard is the bare minimum of providing value to kids and parents in return for the tuition they’re paying. At public and charter schools, at-risk students are more likely to drop out of school. For students already struggling, why would they want to keep attending a school that doesn’t respect or meet the bare minimum in their health and safety needs?
Caring for your school facilities is a way to show students you care.? Establishing regular professional cleaning could even improve student retention and graduation rates.
Supports teacher morale
Teaching is already a hard job, often requiring many extra hours of work outside of the ones already spent in the classroom. Don’t worsen teacher burnout by making them work in unsanitary, unhealthy conditions or by making them spend their valuable time deep-cleaning classrooms themselves.
Decreases teacher absenteeism
Reduce costly teacher sick days, the need for substitutes, and disruptions to students’ education. Deep clean classrooms and teachers’ shared spaces to cut down on illnesses and absences.
Lowers maintenance and repair costs
Especially with floors, bathrooms, cafeterias, kitchens, breakrooms, and appliances, more frequent care means less frequent maintenance and repairs and lower costs.
What Makes a School Deep Clean Different from a Standard Clean?
Routine cleaning includes disinfecting and/or sanitizing certain surfaces, but that’s not the same as deep cleaning just because you’re removing some germs.?
Cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing each play a role in both standard and deep cleaning. Whereas standard cleaning tasks happen daily, or weekly, deep cleaning takes place before the beginning of the school year and over winter and spring breaks.
Deep cleanings are usually carried out by the same team so they become familiar with the facilities, additional staff may be present for any specialty services. But the main difference is deep cleaning is more intensive, accomplishing the equivalent of one to four weeks’ worth of cleaning in one go.
Cleaning staff will dust from top to bottom, disinfect high-touch surfaces, maintain floors, and move things out of the way to clean hard-to-reach spaces during standard cleanings.
How to Deep Clean and Disinfect Schools from School Cleaning Experts
Before we introduce our free procedures checklist for deep cleaning schools, here are some school cleaning tips you can review with your janitorial staff to make sure the job gets done thoroughly.
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Following this general guide will help keep furniture, floors, etc., in good shape, reduce overall cleaning/maintenance costs, and contain the spread of illness-causing germs.
Make a Plan
Consult public health guidance on school deep cleaning or the expertise of your cleaning/janitorial services provider to come up with a comprehensive deep cleaning plan. Have a list of what you want them to do and how, and specify any preferences you have regarding prioritizing tasks or the order in which you want the tasks done for efficiency.?
This will help you and your cleaning professionals know what materials they need and how much. Additionally, they can more efficiently map out where they need to clean and in what order based on which areas require the same cleaning products or equipment.
Use the Right Materials
Cleaning often involves harsh chemicals, which can be harmful if appropriate procedures aren’t followed. Review the cleaning substances and products being used in your school. Make sure the company and individuals cleaning the school are well-versed and trained in how to use all products correctly and safely.?
Observe product label hazard warnings and directions such as cleaner dilution, disposal, and PPE requirements. Don’t mix different disinfectants or cleaners unless the label specifies it’s safe to do so.
Prioritize Floors, High-Traffic Areas, and High-Touch Surfaces
School areas in need of the most attention include floors, restrooms, entrances, hallways, gyms, auditoriums, kitchens, cafeterias, and high-touch surfaces throughout a building.?
Deep Clean the Restrooms
Restrooms tend to host a myriad of bacteria, so exhaustive cleaning of stalls, walls, toilets, urinals, sinks, counters, mirrors, and all other surfaces is imperative. This may be a good time to check the restrooms for anything needing maintenance, for example, lights, plumbing, and stall doors.
Deep Clean the Classroom
Of course, classrooms are where almost everyone in a school spends the majority of their time. Next to restrooms, kitchens/cafeterias, and floors, the classroom may be one of the highest priorities in terms of student and teacher well-being.?
Your cleaning or janitorial professionals probably take care of garbage, whiteboards/chalkboards, floors, desks, chairs, and other frequent touch points during the regular cleaning schedule.?
But deep cleaning time is your chance to clean and disinfect every surface at a higher level. For example, any carpets in the classroom should get hot water extraction to remove set-in residue and dirt, while classroom tile floors should occasionally get stripped and re-waxed.
Deep Clean Other Student and Teacher Common Spaces
The cafeteria, kitchen, offices, copy rooms, and staff/faculty breakrooms should also get special focus during the deep cleaning. They are home to often overlooked frequent touch points, and any space that comes in contact with food takes additional care.
For example, deep cleaning kitchen surfaces and appliances and other cafeteria areas includes more particular cleaning procedures. Clean out and disinfect any refrigerators, microwaves, or coffee makers in staff or faculty lounges or break rooms. Wipe down remote controls, cabinets, and drawers.
Move Obstructions
For standard daily or weekly cleaning procedures, it’s not always feasible to move desks, tables, and other furniture around to clean otherwise hard-to-reach spots. Deep cleanings are your opportunity to move obstructions and properly clean parts of the floors and baseboards rarely addressed.
Dust All Surfaces
There are also surfaces like shelves, ceiling fans, vents, and lighting fixtures needing more focus during more intensive cleaning procedures. Dusting top-to-bottom once in a while goes a long way to keep the whole school cleaner longer.
Organize Your Janitorial Closet
Don’t forget the janitorial closet. All cleaning substances must be accurately labeled and safely stored. Plus, ensuring all cleaning supplies in the school building are organized will help professionals keep track of cleaning supplies inventory. That way, you always have everything you need, and you never waste money on supplies you already have.
Deep Cleaning Procedures Checklist for Schools (FREE Download)
The exact procedures for deep cleaning your building will likely differ in some ways. But this checklist is available as a free download you can reference when establishing or revisiting your school’s deep cleaning process.
Classroom
Cafeteria, Halls, Common Areas
Restrooms