Housekeeping requires everyone's cooperation

During a quality control audit at a high school, I was disheartened by the state of the art and chemistry-physics classes. This situation is common in many school organizations. So, it's time to talk about collaboration between school administration, school professionals, and housekeeping staff!

Visual arts classes

A place of expression and freedom, these spaces are nevertheless premises that must be maintained as teachers and students deserve. But when the cleaning staff see the state the classroom is left in, they generally just give it a quick sweep. After a few weeks, imagine the state these classrooms become?!

• • No tables or benches have been cleaned since summer
  • The sink is in a terrible state with a lot of paint, stuck and dried on the surfaces
  • There are traces of paint on the walls, floors, heater, benches, tables, in fact, EVERYWHERE!
  • There are piles of dust, decorations and craft leftovers everywhere!

EVERYONE has a responsibility in this state of affairs. First, would students paint all over their own house? Would the teacher allow people to paint all over their own house? The answer is NO.

The graffiti that students are allowed to draw on desks and other areas is sometimes very difficult to clean effectively. This represents an overload for the housekeeping employee. Especially since it would be up to the authors to clean it up, not the employees who already have an important task to accomplish every day. And as we know, one graffiti one day is equivalent to the appearance of twice as much the next, so graffiti must not be allowed to go unchecked, as the stain becomes uncontrollable.

The chemistry and physics class

This type of classroom is usually not cleaned except for the floor. The reason is that since the students use chemicals unknown to the cleaning staff, it is safer for the students to clean…. And what do you think happens? The counters, the sinks are simply never cleaned. So these classrooms are very dusty. The counters get so dirty that the flooring is stained. The sinks are disgusting, with gum or other dirt stuck to them.

However, it would be possible to wash the counters very easily with a Vileda Professional PVA Micro Microfiber Cloth

The advantage is that this type of cloth can even clean effectively with just water.

Collaboration at the heart of solutions

The problem with uncleaned spaces with high traffic is surface contamination. Imagine the number of students visiting these spaces in a day—it's a perfect breeding ground for an epidemic! We must therefore find solutions so that everyone can collaborate to create clean, tidy, and inspiring spaces. Here are some possible solutions:

Cleanliness should be part of learning a trade. These future chemists will have to work in laboratories. Most chemical manufacturing plants are generally well-maintained, and cleanliness is an important value. This value is learned directly at school.

There are places and surfaces that are perfect for expressing your creativity.  I have seen in some schools beautiful murals made by the students themselves. The Terrebonne Impact School even won an award for their magnificent mural. Congratulations to these students, this mural "The Waves of Souls" is truly superb.

Comparing this mural to graffiti is completely different. A desk full of graffiti also means that the student isn't focused on what they're supposed to be doing. A quick glance, 5 minutes before the end of class, could easily allow the teacher to identify the graffiti artists. They could then: clean their graffiti!

Being an artist the space of a visual arts class should include a clean-up period at the end of class. Imagine a room of 20 to 30 students cleaning and tidying the classroom... WONDERFUL!

Let's put this idea to the test!

Need for classroom cleaning by students

Here is a list of products and accessories to leave in each classroom every day for better

collaboration between students, teachers and housekeeping staff.

• About fifteen cleaning cloths
• A broom and a dustpan
• A pre-diluted all-purpose cleaner
• A 5-minute stop before the end of class to allow for a quick cleaning of the tables, sink, counter and a quick sweep.
• And a goal of training the next generation in good professional practices!

Good thinking!