According to Superintendent Dr. Teresa Jackson, “Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District is preparing for the return of our employees and students in several ways. One area of great concern is the continuous cleaning and sanitizing of our buildings in order to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19. WMCSD outsources custodial and maintenance services to a company called ABM (formerly GCA). Over the past six years, we have developed a great partnership and trust them with this process.”
Operations Officer Charlie Parkerson says, “ABM has been forward-thinking and developed an enhanced cleaning plan for our school district. The primary goal of this plan is to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus in all areas of the school - classrooms, offices, bathrooms, and hallways. ABM is constantly monitoring the CDC guidelines to ensure we are following their recommendations for sanitizing our schools.”
All disinfectants used in WMCSD schools and buildings are EPA approved and have been proven effective in killing the coronavirus as well as other seasonal viruses that occur throughout the year. We have added additional help at each building during the school day to assist in making sure high traffic areas such as restrooms, hallways, and classroom doors are wiped clean and disinfected. We also added an additional custodian with an enhanced cleaning certification to sanitize each classroom weekly. WMCSD has added additional hand sanitizer stations throughout each building to help keep students' hands clean.
Once the school day has ended, the ABM staff will immediately begin cleaning and disinfecting each room in both buildings. ABM has purchased fogging machines and electrostatic sprayers to be used in conjunction with manual scrubbing of surfaces within the building. These methods when used together will help lower the amount of pathogens within our facilities.
Signs will be placed throughout the building reminding students, faculty, and the public to practice safe physical distance, use a mask properly, and keep hands clean. These 3 things are so important to slow the spread of COVID-19.
WMCSD understands that we cannot completely eliminate the threat of the COVID-19 virus, but with the help of ABM and their vast resources and knowledge of disinfecting buildings and people doing their part to follow school district protocols, we can minimize the effects of this virus on our students and employees.
If you have any questions about the Winona-Montgomery ABM cleaning plan or to report a problem, please do not hesitate to email WMCSD Operations Officer Charlie Parkerson at tigertalk@winonaschools.net.