Strengthening Washington's Public Schools

In the past twenty years floors in schools have gone from mostly tile to mostly carpets. Student asthma rates have doubled. Most custodial budgets have been slashed. Because of all of these things, custodians must change the way they clean.

In order to maintain a healthier school, custodians must be cleaning for health rather than cleaning for appearance. Here are some tips:

• Use non-toxic "green" cleaning chemicals instead of more toxic and harmful chemicals. For information on green cleaning, visit www.greencleanschools.org.
• Use disinfectants only where you need to.
• Use less toxic cleaners, such as a Hydrogen Peroxide based cleaner, everywhere else.
• Use micro-fiber cloths to greatly increase the amount of dirt and germs you remove.
• Keep dust and particulate levels down by frequent and thorough vacuuming.
• Regular dusting improves indoor environmental quality.

Cleaning for health, and not for appearance, means:

• Dusting classrooms instead of cleaning windows.
• Concentrating on cleaning carpets instead of buffing tile.
• Spending more time extracting carpets and less time working on small, but unsightly ink stains on carpets.

When you are working, ask yourself if doing this task improves indoor environmental quality in the school? If you can answer yes, then you are cleaning for health.

Information provided by Patrick Nicholson, Brownsville Elementary Custodian. See him in action in this video.