NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) - Before the sun rises every weekday, some essential school employees are already hard at work, preparing buses and vans to transport students safely.
Afterward they are bustling around school buildings - cleaning, repairing and problem-solving.
But this year has brought added responsibilities for school custodians and maintenance workers.
School facilities can potentially be a minefield for COVID-19. Employees have to continuously work to reduce the risk of virus spread after students touch anything and everything - from a lone desk chair to a cafeteria full of lunch tables.
Don Kellogg, director of maintenance for Norfolk Catholic parish and schools, told the Norfolk Daily News that the added cleaning has accounted for a few extra hours of work each day per staff member.
“It isn’t so much harder, but there’s just more time involved,” Kellogg said. “I am here about another hour and a half each day than normal, spraying down the rooms. The churches get sprayed down after each mass and that’s three times on Sunday. It’s pretty much a daily task.”
Thomas Asmussen, director of maintenance, transportation and custodial services at Norfolk Public Schools, said he’s been coming to work around 5 a.m. and leaving about 5 p.m. - if nothing needs to be fixed or attended to - for the past 15 years at the district.
Asmussen said COVID-19 has brought specific cleaning and disinfecting schedules to every aspect of facilities and operations at NPS. He supervises more than 110 custodial and maintenance employees.
“Naturally, it’s gotten a little complicated because we have very strict guidelines that we developed because we deal with children,” he said. “It has (changed) a bit, but we have worked through everything and it’s been fairly seamless.”
Since the school year began, NPS facilities are sanitized at least once a day, but this can increase depending on what COVID-19 risk level the district is in.
Teachers are equipped with supplies to clean between classes, so custodians and maintenance workers take care of the larger tasks of sanitizing places like common areas, bathrooms and inside vehicles while students are in session.
NPS and other Norfolk schools also have their own arsenal of tools to help combat COVID-19, including disinfectant misting guns and electrostatic sanitizing sprayers.
The electrostatic guns reduce the time of cleaning, especially in buses, Asmussen said. It uses a specialized solution that is atomized by an electrode, making the particles of the cleanser cling to an entire object, such as a bus seat, instead of just the top surface.
Custodial and maintenance work during the beginning months of the pandemic was a little more rocky. Bill Robinson, associate superintendent of business, maintenance and facilities, said the summer consisted of employees taking on additional hours and responsibilities to prepare for the school year.
“We moved a number of paraprofessionals, who were instructional paras, into more maintenance type of work, which helped the folks who normally do the deep cleans in the summer start getting prepared for all of the other things we were doing,” Robinson said. “We had a number of supplies that we had to create space for and do inventory for; that all takes people.”
When it’s time for students to file out of classrooms and for teachers to head home, custodians and maintenance workers also have the task of sanitizing everything before it’s touched again in the morning. Overnight crews are usually used for additional deep cleaning.
Mike Kesting, maintenance director at Lutheran High Northeast High School, and Mark McKeown, custodian and maintenance worker at Christ Lutheran School and church, are both the sole staff members who clean facilities during the day, they said.
McKeown said while the year has been going well, he also has more responsibilities because of COVID-19.
He cleans the bathrooms every one to two hours, which is something he’s never done before. He also now delivers meals because students no longer eat in a cafeteria, but instead in their classrooms.
“Teachers and kids take care of their rooms, and there’s a little bit more of a mess to vacuum up after classes,” McKeown said. “It hasn’t been bad. Everyone’s been doing a little bit to keep things going well. It has kept us in school so far.”
COVID-19 has taken its toll on school staff, said Robinson, associate superintendent. While there is an ongoing substitute staff shortage, some employees in the custodial and maintenance departments chose not to work this fall because of the risk.
Kesting said the pandemic hasn’t affected his desire to come to school every day.
“It doesn’t bother me that much. I’m 65 and supposedly at risk, but I just don’t worry about it,” he said. “I wear a mask during the day when I’m around people.”
Asmussen said while his job has become more hectic since the school year began, he views it as just another obstacle to tackle - something he has to do quite often.
“The more challenging it is, the more I like it. To say I like what’s happening in the world, that’s not correct, but I’m just saying the challenges that are put in front of me don’t bother me at all,” Asmussen said. “My day is very challenging across the board. It’s just one of those things, you have to be very good at adjusting on the fly and readjusting. Most of the time, you just better have a plan A through M because you might need it.”
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