District Administrator's Corner

by Loren Glasbrenner River Valley School District Administrator There is a vast difference between cleaning compared to sanitizing and disinfecting.  Imagine your mother asking you to “go and disinfect your room” or “sanitize that floor.”  It would have really added to the list of chores, that is for sure.  We had to pick up our things, straighten a closet, clean the garage, vacuum the rugs, dust the shelves, put away the dishes, fold the laundry, feed the animals, or mow the grass.  Many adults smile about the years of “free labor” they offered at home.  And, to be honest, it took quite a threat to get my brothers or me to do any of those things--and none of it included careful sanitizing and disinfecting.  During the pandemic, this has become increasingly important. Disinfecting a school is an enormous and complicated job.  Beyond cleaning, disinfecting kills germs.  Sanitizing kills some, but the goal of disinfecting is destruction of all the harmful particles.  We take for granted the dedicated folks that help to keep our staff and students healthy by keeping our schools clean.  The River Valley School District contracts with a company, Dashir, who facilitates our processes for cleaning, disinfecting, and maintaining our schools.  One of the quotes on the company’s website states, “We’ll take care of your facilities so you have time to take care of the priorities.”  And, they do.   We have an incredible team of professionals that help us daily.  But, these days are not like most days--the custodial team has now been trained to disinfect following guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/clean-disinfect/inde...).  Here is an example of some steps that are used to keep the schools open with staff and students healthy.  Read as if you were tasked to clean a classroom: 1. Prepare yourself with the proper gloves or protection. 2. Wait until the room is clear of teachers and students for safety. 3. Ensure that there is adequate ventilation when using chemical products. 4. Pick up and prep to clean any surfaces.  5. Analyze the surface to choose the correct chemical/cleaner/disinfectant. 6. Clean surfaces. 7. Only use an EPA approved disinfectant against COVID-19. 8. Apply the disinfectant (e.g., spray or wipe a surface) and allow it to dry. 9. Discard disposable protective equipment after each cleaning and disinfection. 10. After removing gloves, wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.  11. Store chemicals in a secure location. Yep, that’s it … someone just “washed” a desk.  You can now see how appreciative we are for our team that has risen to the challenge and learned new processes to keep our community safe.  This team is talented, devoted, and hard working.  They have helped to make the pandemic less troublesome.  Here is our Dashir team:  Jeni Meuer, Lori Rutherford,  Fred Peterson, Deb Hogan, Laurie Turner, Anna Davidson, Ron Miller, Karl Nicks, Jason Bohnsack, Tyler Johnson, Tiffany Peer, Karl Nelson, Chailae Meade, and Hunter Pinkham.  They have learned and implemented new processes to help us all. We couldn’t have done it without them.  We cannot be in our schools without their work.  They have become the superheroes against an invisible enemy and we are very grateful for their work.