Back to school means it’s time to review your classroom cleaning checklist. Summer may have been spent working on long-term maintenance projects, but with students back in the building it’s time to shift your focus to daily upkeep. Adhering to a classroom cleaning checklist will ensure that schools remain clean and fresh-smelling and help keep students, faculty and staff healthy into cold and flu season.
Germiest Places at Schools
Schools are hotbeds for dirt, soils and pathogens. Incomplete cleaning not only leads to unsightly interiors, it can be detrimental to health. Students miss a collective 32 million school days a year due to flu, according to Parenting Magazine. While there is no way to completely stop the flu or common cold, adhering to a comprehensive cleaning protocol can help cut that number of days lost to illness.
Unfortunately, the germiest places in the classroom may not be on your cleaning checklist. Sure, the restroom gets maintained daily but how often does your staff clean the water fountain spigot? Or the classroom computer keyboards? These surfaces hold far more aerobic bacteria per square inch than a toilet seat, according to a study by the NSF.
For the best classroom cleaning, be sure to include daily maintenance of these and other common touch points like door knobs, light switches and faucet handles on your checklist. Instruct staff to use disposable disinfectant wipes to prevent cross contamination. Old fashioned technology, like towels and rags, get dirtier with each use and redeposit more germs and pathogens on touch points.
Desks and Tables Hold Germs Too
Desks, tables and other horizontal surfaces host bacteria and viruses too, according to a report in the Journal of School Nursing. Just wiping these surfaces down with a rag or microfiber cloth will leave bacteria behind. Even more alarming, ‘cleaning’ with these conventional tools increases the risk cross-contamination. This means the last surface cleaned may have between two to eight times more soil than the first.
For more complete cleaning, use a KaiFly System to remove bio-pollutants from desktops, tables and more. The ergonomically-designed technology lets cleaning staff work quickly and safely without the risk of cross-contamination.
Classroom Cleaning Checklist: Daily
Complete these tasks to keep classrooms clean and healthy every day.
- Clean and dry sink. Restock supplies.
- Wipe touch points with disposable disinfectant wipes
- Clean desks and tables with KaiFly.
- Dust mop hard-surface floors.
- Vacuum carpeted floors.
- Attend to any unexpected spills or stains.
- Empty pencil sharpener.
- Remove trash.
Classroom Cleaning Checklist: Weekly
Rotate these tasks in once a week along with daily tasks.
- High dust overhead areas and light fixtures.
- Dust shelves, cubbies and cabinets.
- Clean the whiteboard or chalkboard with KaiFly.
- Wet mop and dry hard surface floors.
Following these checklists will help you maintain that summer clean all school year long. For more great school cleaning ideas click here.
