Disinfecting schools on snow days

DAVIESS CO., KY (WFIE) - While the cold kept the students away, custodians took advantage of empty classrooms.

“It was perfect timing," David Shutt head of maintenance for Daviess County Public Schools said. “To deep clean the rooms and putting some extra time into it without the students present is an ideal time for us to get a lot of clean up done.”

With the flu going around, Daviess County Schools are utilizing a new disinfecting technology called an electrostatic sprayer.

“A lot of staff as well as students have been ill," Shutt explained. "It puts a strain on everybody.”

It sprays surfaces, requiring no wipe down and kills viruses in just 10 minutes.

“It gets the entire surface, top and bottom without us having to touch it so that’s actually a big benefit," Erik Simon, head custodian at College View Middle School, said. “Supposedly it takes 10 minutes to activate, to fully activate to kill whatever virus that it’s killing. And to find a 10 minute window during school hours is very hard to do.”

School officials say the new technology makes it much easier and more time efficient to disinfect.

“With this handheld device they can get in and out of a room quickly, it’s cordless," Shutt said. "We don’t have to worry about dragging cords around everywhere. And it’s made it very convenient for the custodians to quickly and efficiently clean the room.”

Because each school custodian wants to see their students succeed.

“I like to see them doing well and being healthy is part of that," Simon said.

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