Articles in the issue:
Cleaning Tips for Back to School
Tips to Keep Your Kids Healthy at School
Educational Facilities & Commercial Cleaning
August 2017 Clean Communications
Back to school means new germs, new clutter, and a new schedule. Take the necessary precautions early to ensure that your home keeps up with the chaos.
Get Organized
That spring cleaning that you vowed to do in the summer? Well, now is the time to really do it. De-cluttering is a saving grace once school, baseball practices, science projects, field trips, dance recitals, and all the like hit you at once. Go through closets and purge the clothes that no longer fit, say goodbye to toys that are collecting dust, and de-clutter everywhere. If you don’t use it, lose it!
Next, let your pinterest skills shine and implement new organizational hacks that will let your everyday routine run more smoothly. Homework stations, snack bins, to-do lists, and outfit organizers are small things that will save you an immense amount of time and stress.
Check out 22 back-to-school organizational hacks here:
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/tips/family/back-to-school-organization-tips
Clean Your Upholstery and Carpets
Sticky popsicle fingers and traffic in and out of the backyard have probably taken their toll on your floors and furniture. Additionally, open windows means that summer breeze is bringing in dust and dirt along with it. Having your furniture and carpets steam cleaned is the best way to rid your house of summer grime and get a clean slate before school starts.
Create a Chore List for the Kids
Keep things clean amidst the madness by sharing the workload! Get the kids involved so that when the first day of school rolls around, they know their responsibilities. Establishing a list beforehand allows for the chores to become integrated into the kids’ school year schedules, turning it into habit and making it more sustainable.
Develop a Cleaning Schedule
If you leave cleaning for when you have free time, you’ll never actually get the chance to do it! In addition to the kids’ chore chart, set specific tasks for yourself each day so that you never get behind or overwhelmed. This could include fridge/pantry clean out on Wednesdays, laundry on Tuesdays and Thursdays, daily kitchen and bathroom wipe-downs, etc.
Tips to Keep Your Kids Healthy at School
Something that may seem like a no-brainer to us, probably doesn’t even cross the minds of our children. Developing sanitary habits is something that must be taught and ingrained, and with school being a cesspool of shared germs and potential illness, the earlier you teach your kids the better. Before you send your little ones back to school, make sure to go over this list of tips with them.
Hand Washing
Again, seems like a no brainer, but in an effort to get back on the playground, kids will too often just give their hands a quick rinse or nothing at all. A fun tip that ensures they properly wash their hands is to have them sing the entirety of the “Happy Birthday” song to themselves. Or, if happy birthday isn’t quite their jam, have them sing the chorus of their favorite song. This will make proper hand washing fun, and more importantly, habit.
Hand Sanitizer
Buy a mini hand sanitizer that hooks onto their backpack. Let them pick it out so it’s one that they really love and will be inclined to use consistently. Teach them to use it before they eat and anytime after they’ve coughed or sneezed.
Sharing is Not Always Caring
While it’s fantastic that your munchkin is willing to share, be sure that they know not to share cups, bottles, straws, or anything else that will transfer germs into their mouths. Teach them about viruses and how germs spread so they understand why these aren’t good things to share, and be continually aware.
Cover Coughs and Sneezes
There’s nothing like child’s sneeze raining down on you during cold season. Teach your kiddos to cover their cough and sneeze into the crevice of their elbow to avoid spraying germs. If they do use their hands, make sure they know to wash up or use sanitizer before touching anything else.
Don’t Touch Your Face
Germs enter the body so easily through the mouth, nose, and eyes. With all of the nose-picking and eye-rubbing that children do, it’s like an open invitation for viruses and other bacteria. Habitual handwashing/sanitizing paired with using tissues to rub and pick, will eliminate some of the risk.
Know When to Keep Them Home
This one’s for you. As parents, it’s up to you to know when to keep your kids home sick. By sending a sick child to school, you’re increasing the likelihood of the illness spreading like wildfire through the student body. This results in only more sickness and more missed time from school. While it may seem like a small cold that they can power through, it’s likely that they’re still contagious.
Educational Facilities & Commercial Cleaning
Educational facilities are perhaps the most susceptible to germs, dirt, and grime, and require the highest level of cleanliness . They are aso four times as densely occupied as commercial office spaces, meaning they must be cleaned more frequently and even more effectively. For ages, janitorial services at schools were kept in-house, but the shift to commercial cleaning companies is happening rapidly. This is because the comprehensive, professional services of a commercial company cannot be rivaled, particularly for the price. Professional services offer the most comprehensive cleaning, a rapid response rate, top tier products, and additional services that are oftentimes not offered by in-house options. Also, it saves you the time and money that goes into hiring and managing a full-time janitorial staff.
The necessity of green cleaning is something that often gets overlooked when done in-house. While sanitation must be at the highest level, industrial strength cleaning products and room deodorizers can be hazardous, adding an extra issue for schools. It is of the utmost importance to clean using products that yield the best possible results while not posing any dangers or health risks. JaniTek is proud to be Green Seal 42-certified. The Green Seal 42 certification not only looks at the use of green products, but also equipment, procedures, and training. Whether it be microfiber technology, low moisture systems, or low decibel vacuums, JaniTek is constantly looking at ways to improve the health and safety of your students and staff.
Security is yet another reason to entrust your educational facility’s cleaning with a professional company. It is imperative that you know who is in your building, particularly when the safety of children is at risk. At JaniTek, we screen all employees using a fully comprehensive background check, drug testing, social security verification, and personality test. We utilize over 1000 background databases, including county and federal criminal records, to ensure we are hiring the most trustworthy employees.
Something else to consider is that many schools in California feature primarily outdoor campuses. This means that just as much effort must go into the outdoor portion of the campus as it does the indoors. Finding one company that offers all the necessary services to get this done, however, can be a challenge. JaniTek happily offers outdoor cleaning services that include everything from from window cleaning to power-washing, to ensure that your entire facility stays as pristine as possible.
The cleanliness of your educational facility is detrimental- to faculty, students, and parents alike. In addition to requiring frequent, safe, efficient cleaning, there is no question that every penny counts in a school’s budget. Outsourcing the cleaning of your educational facility to a trusted company saves valuable money. And by getting more bang for less buck, the retained cost can go straight into where it’s most important- the classroom.
Call JaniTek toll free at 1-855-JANI-TEK to learn more about how we can help your school or educational facility be the best it can be.
