The Top 5 Germiest Places in our Kids’ Schools (and What You Can Do About It)

As the school year winds down, you might want to know how your kids can stay healthy for the last couple of weeks of school and be ready for next year’s school year too.

Building operations expert Peter J. Sheldon Sr., Vice President of Operations and Development of Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System® has over 20 years of experience. Below he gives us an e-interview about the germiest places in your child’s school and additional information about how to stay healthy and safe.

FF: What are the 5 germiest places and what should parents be doing to work with the schools to understand how to make these spots cleaner?

PS:  The epicenter for cross contamination in any educational facility is the restroom. Many germs originate there and are carried throughout other surfaces in the building through hand contact. This is compounded because children are notorious for not washing their hands.

–      Desk tops have been shown to have high concentrations of organisms due to high hand contact and lack of proper cleaning by custodial staff.

–      Cafeteria tables are also harbors for germs, food residues, lots of hands and poor cleaning present a recipe to create a cafeteria for bacteria that is easily transmitted by hungry students.

–      Water fountains also have high levels of contamination. Just watch a line of kids all put their mouth on the spigot. These are also not receiving proper cleaning.

–      While not used by all students, the dirtiest surface we have ever found in a school is the wrestling or gymnastic mats by far. Cleaning, if at all, is outdated and coaches aren’t educated on the importance of or how to execute proper cleaning. Thousands of young athletes develop staph infections including MRSA, pink eye, ring worm every year.

Parents in numbers equal power. Parents should band together and create a task force for cleaner schools. They should be at every school board meeting and demand that schools are being cleaned effectively to reduce the risk of illness.

Due to tight budgets, one of the first thing to get cut is custodial operations, even if the custodians were trained on proper cleaning most lack the budget to do the type of cleaning that is really necessary. This was exemplified by the study done by Dr Charles Gerba from the University of Arizona where they simply cleaned students desk tops daily with disinfectant wipes and reduced the incidence of absenteeism by 50%. Parents must speak loudly and demand custodians be properly trained and dollars are allocated to keep our schools clean.

FF: What are the dangers that are posed to the average kid? What hazards are posed for children with lower immunity?

PS: The dangers range from a common cold to loss of life. The risk is always present and no strategy can eliminate it, but the risks can be reduced and managed with proper hygiene programs to clean surfaces and encourage hand washing. The most serious risk comes from things like MRSA (treatment resistant staph).  Hundreds of students, especially student athletes, develop these infections each year and unfortunately, there have been several resulting deaths.

The question is how many deaths have to occur before doing everything possible to reduce these health risks becomes a priority? Medical professionals tell us that the immunocompromised population is always at higher risk for any type of infection. This group includes young children, elderly, pregnant females, people with compromised immune systems and those undergoing certain therapy. People in those categories should be ever vigilant to reduce their exposure in any public environment

FF: What kind of germs are we talking here? Mold? Bacteria?

PS: Germs are everywhere, some good and some bad. The bad ones are known as pathogens and are capable of causing disease in humans. In the profession of health risk reduction and surface hygiene services, we refer to them as the enemy. Some of the most common in the education industry that we seek to prevent and also deal with in outbreak situations are things like:

–      Influenza

–      Rhinovirus

–      Norovirus

–      Staph Aureous

–      Salmonella

–      Streptococcus

–      MRSA

–      Ecoli

FF: What are the most effective ways to prevent these? What cleaning products do you recommend?

PS:  Reducing the risk of contracting an illness is a combination of active hand washing and hand sanitizer programs to educate students on personal hygiene responsibility. This combined with an effective hygienic cleaning program which includes the prudent use of disinfectants and the latest cleaning technology to capture and removes soils and germs.

FF: Are there things we can do for our kids to keep them safe if we can’t prevent these germs – such as hand wipes or sanitizer? Teach good hand washing? Don’t do certain things that are more germy?

PS: Educate kids on how germs are transmitted via hand to face contact. Condition them to wash hands often with soap and water and use hand sanitizers especially after using the restroom and before and after eating. Ensure that they have a pack of disinfectant wipes so they can clean their desks and other areas they use. While these simple steps may not prevent every illness, studies show that they will reduce the risk as much as 50%.

Peter J. Sheldon Sr., CBSE, brings over 20 years of experience in the Building Services Contracting industry to his position as Vice President of Operations and Development of Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System^®. Sheldon works closely with the Coverall sales and operations teams to spearhead initiatives that further the Company’s strategic objectives and help the Company develop the most efficient and innovative cleaning processes available. Sheldon is among the elite group of building service professionals to qualify for the Certified Building Service Executive designation.

Marijo Tinlin is the Editor in Chief of Family First, one of the oldest family-oriented websites on the internet. She is also the author of a book about patriotism and teaching our children to love this country called “How to Raise an American Patriot, Making it Okay for Our Kids to Be Proud to Be American.”  It features 13 interviews with patriotic Americans including Ed Meese, Erick Erickson and Jackie Gingrich Cushman. It’s available at www.raisinganamericanpatriot.com.