What do the U.S. Marines, Yale, and Rolla MO Schools have in common? The bulldog as mascot: a breed known for tenacity, toughness, and gentleness with children. That’s why clean, healthy facilities are important to the schools.
Rolla 31 District is nestled between Springfield and St Louis MO near the Mark Twain National Forest. The district resolves to “provide the best educational opportunities possible through … excellence in personnel, facilities, curriculum and instruction” at its eight schools:
- Three elementary schools
- One junior high, a middle and high school
- And two technical, trade, administrative centers, one of which houses a satellite branch of East Central Community College.
Head custodian Chris Headrick is a 27-year veteran of custodial services. He is a strong believer in providing clean, healthy facilities for Rolla’s more than 4,000 students.
He credits the daily use of ten Kaivac No-Touch Cleaning® systems for their restrooms with helping the district become recognized as one of the healthiest in the nation.
Cleaning for Healthy Restrooms
“Kaivac speeds up our cleaning, eliminates cross-contamination, and produces better results through simple procedures,” Chris notes. “A restroom specialist using No-Touch Cleaning can cut restroom cleaning time from 20 minutes to 5 minutes per restroom, and they are cleaner.”
In order to check organic soil outcomes, the department uses Hygiena ATP (adenosine triphosphate) meters and rarely gets higher than a “40”.
“It’s all about removal. With Kaivac, we are removing urine, bacteria, and biofilm from the cracks, crevices and grout.”
“Before adopting no-touch cleaning, our number one complaint was restroom odors. Now we rarely get complaints – a complete reversal.”
Training for Health
In order to optimize use of Kaivac and other tools such as microfiber and engineered water systems, Rolla developed worker training. This includes a comprehensive custodial handbook and validation by:
- Green Cleaning Institute (GCI) Certification
- ISSA’s Cleaning Industry Training Standard (CITS) Certification
- Foundation for Accredited Learning (FAL)
Versatility
After using Kaivac for more than a decade, Rolla has found multiple uses, including cleaning of:
- Walls
- Stairwells
- Lockers
- Floors
“We do not use a chemical to remove old floor finish, but an orbital machine and water to physically remove the worn coating without chemicals, then use Kaivac to vacuum it off.”
“We will be testing Kaivac’s AutoVac Stretch for our new gym floor cleaning,” Chris adds.
Tenacious for Health
As a result of being tenacious for clean, healthy facilities, Rolla Schools protects the health of workers, students, faculty and visitors.
In the spirit of its mascot, Rolla’s custodial team keeps a tight grip on what works. “Take anything away from me, but don’t take away my Kaivac!” says Chris.
