While many of us have been enjoying a relaxing summer, school custodians continued a rigorous schedule. Their shifts involved preventative COVID-19 cleaning in addition to regular summer maintenance, like waxing floors and cleaning furniture.
Oak Hills custodians are responsible for 989,000-square feet of space that includes nine schools, 12 buildings and 72 acres. They work in shifts, according to district spokeswoman Krista Ramsey.
One of the challenges during the school year was they had to clean in places they normally wouldn’t. As part of the COVID-19 protocol, kids ate in their classrooms. That involved food clean-up in places other than the cafeteria. “Every day throughout the day it was continued cleaning of particularly high traffic spaces," says Ramsey. "So, things like doorknobs or bathroom faucets and light switches.”
Sandy Webb, head custodian at Mason City Schools, explained one huge summer job. “Getting to every single classroom, taking all the furniture out, cleaning the furniture, scrubbing the floor and having all the floors completely waxed throughout the entire building with a very lean crew.”
Mason, like Oak Hills, didn’t hire additional custodial staff during COVID.
“They did a job that we just called magnificent, and they did it with great heart, with great spirit," Ramsey says. "They always know they are essential, but they truly were our essential workers.”
“They just put in a lot of extra work and were glad to do it,” says Mason Spokeswoman Tracey Carson.
They kids recognize the custodians’ hard work, too. Webb is known as “Miss Sandy” to Mason elementary students. Children wondered if janitors were sick if they didn’t see the ones they knew. “We even had a couple of them come up and say, ‘Can we help? Do you want us to help you?' " Webb says.
Webb plans to keep some of the technology in place used during COVID. One thing she says really helps are the electrostatic sprayers: backpacks filled with disinfectant
