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It may be summer break for the kids, but that doesn’t mean that the school closes down for the season; in fact, for custodians and janitors, it’s the time when they can be the most productive. The kids aren’t around to continue to clean-up and sanitize after, and there’s a big empty building waiting to be cleaned.
However, the truth is there’s a lot of space and rooms in a school and without planning things out, it can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips we thought may help you organize the school summer cleaning rush.
1. Know the School. How many rooms are there? What are the square feet of each of those rooms? How many custodians are able to help? With this information, you can at least write down how many classrooms you have, how many bathrooms, and how many larger rooms there are.
2. Know the Rooms. Each room type is going to have its own needs – some rooms have tile, some have carpet, some need to be waxed, some need to be stripped, etc. So when cleaning the rooms, you’ll want to know exactly what you need to bring along so you’re not lugging around more than you need. After you know what each of the rooms needs are, write a list down, and try to get a rough estimate of how long it will take to clean each room. A classroom deep clean may take 6 hours to complete; whereas, a single bathroom may only take an hour. With simple math, you can see how 6 classrooms and 2 single stall bathrooms could be cleaned in a 40 hour work week.
3. Checklists. If you’re a veteran at what you do, I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, “I don’t need any checklists, I got this girl!” Well, that may be true, but your knowledge is meant to be shared. Create a list, and perfect it overtime so that others can learn what it is that’s expected of them when they clean the facility.
4. Don’t Tackle it all at Once. If you live in a small school district, it may be easy to get the entire building clean in as little as a month, but for larger schools, it may be easier to section of the school by weeks, or months during the summer. Do grade by grade, floor by floor, or wing by wing… whatever makes sense to you. Just don’t get overwhelmed with all of it – take a deep breath.
5. Get the Right Cleaning Supplies. A lot of schools are turning to a green cleaning system, which is good for everyone; regardless, before you get started with cleaning, you’ll need to make sure you have the right cleaning supplies in stock so you’re not running out last minute to gather supplies.
6. Organize. Like in any building or home, periodically we’ve got to look at re-organizing closets, shelves, and cabinets. This is the perfect time to get things back in order so you can start fresh when the new school year begins.
7. Evaluate Equipment Condition. There’s a lot of equipment placed throughout the school, but regular maintenance is essential in making sure all of that equipment stays up and running when busy time rolls around again. Use the summer as a time to run through the big and small equipment to see where repairs and maintenance upkeep can be done. It’s always good to stock up on needed parts too, just in case something stops working when you need it the most.
Are you a custodian that works in a school? What summer cleaning tips have you found to help get through the summer?
