Custodians get ready to keep schools clean across Conn.
The new year will bring new protocols to control the spread of the coronavirus — at a time when staffing levels are challenged as well
STAMFORD — Plenty of attention has been given to teachers preparing for an unprecedented school year due to COVID-19, but another sector of the district’s workforce also has played a major role in getting schools ready for instruction.
Custodians have been working for weeks to prepare classrooms for the first day of school on Tuesday.
But their job of keeping kids and staff safe during an ongoing pandemic won’t end with the opening bell. This year custodians will take on new cleaning protocols aimed at keeping the coronavirus at bay.
It won’t always be easy. Custodians in the system have pointed out their workload will increase, but the number of workers in the district is not expected to increase with it. The virus has hit them in more ways the one. At the same time that it added duties to their schedules, it put unprecedented strain on the city budget.
Seven custodian positions were eliminated in late July by the Stamford Board of Education in an effort to save an estimated $595,000.
After that cut, the number of custodian positions in the school district was reduced from 125 to 118. Earlier this year, 56 parttime custodians were also let go once school buildings shuttered due to the spread of the coronavirus.
Contractually, the district must have a minimum of 113 custodians.
Eugene Molgano, the vice president of the Stamford Board of Education Employees Association, has said the reduction of cleaning staff in the wake of COVID-19 is “a major concern.”
The new protocols in Stamford’s reopening plan that was submitted to the state last week call for cleaning and disinfecting bathrooms in each school twice a day, as well as disinfecting frequently touched surfaces and objects.
Under Stamford’s normal protocol, bathrooms would be cleaned once a day, at night, and as necessary.
Cindy Grafstein, a member of the Stamford Asset Management Group, which oversees school buildings, praised the work of the custodians in setting up the district for an uncommon year.
“Our custodians have been working extremely hard this August,” Grafstein said last week. “They will have ... all the buildings in the district ready for students on Tuesday.”
Almost. Administrators on Friday decided to delay the opening of Westhill High School by two days, in part because of cleanliness complaints teachers raised about the building.
Roughly two-thirds of the 160 teachers in the building emailed administration saying the school was not ready to open.
Westhill teacher Jennifer Leveille wrote that the condition of the school was bad when teachers returned to the building more than a week ago to take part in professional development.
“Somehow, unimaginably, it was dirtier now than it was when we left March 12,” she wrote.
Teachers from the school shared images of unclean parts of the building with members of the Board of Education.
“It’s disgusting to see some of these pictures,” said school board member Mike Altamura during an emergency meeting called Friday night.
Some images showed corners in the school covered in cobwebs and other debris.
Kate Tobin, a Westhill teacher and a union representative at the school, said teachers are not blaming custodians for the condition of the school. She, and others, have recognized that custodians have been tasked with more than usual due to the unusual school year.
It was only a month ago that the district decided to choose a model for the new year which would allow for students to come to class every other day. Custodians, in a holding patterns, didn’t begin prep work until the plan was chosen.
Once that happened, facilities managers had to measure each classroom to implement new configurations to ensure proper social distancing.
Alvin McKeithen, a custodian at Westhill High School, said custodians moved 1,500 desks out of classrooms in order to space remaining desks at least six feet away from each other.
Diane Phanos, head of the Stamford Education Association teachers union, said cleanliness problems at Westhill don’t seem to be shared district-wide, but she has heard some complaints at Toquam Magnet Elementary, Hart Magnet Elementary School and Cloonan Middle School.
Other schools, like Strawberry Hill School, are in great shape, she said.
Once classes begin, custodians will implement COVID-19 cleaning protocols for the first time since the virus forced school buildings to close in March.
The new protocols call for routinely using an “accelerated hydrogen peroxide” called Oxivir Tb to disinfect “high-touch” areas such as stairwell railings, door handles, and dispensers.
Custodians will also be tasked with refilling dispensers, for hand sanitizer, bathroom soap and paper towels.
Further, bathrooms at all the schools need to be cleaned once during the school day and once at night.
The protocols were put in place by the school district after receiving recommendations from a vendor who toured three schools — an elementary, middle and high school. The contractor gave the district feedback on what areas need to be cleaned and how often, focusing on hightouch spots such as door knobs, banisters and light switches.
Superintendent Tamu Lucero said the district is working to get part-time custodians to help. She did not provide a specific number of part-timers who would be added, but said it would be similar to last semester.