Starting School With Cleaning Best Practices In Place

I remember what it felt like as summer break wound down and I prepared for a new school year. Personally, I loved it. I got all new stuff to make for a successful year and it established a structure that I craved.

After chatting with facility cleaning executives in schools and universities across the country, I realized that their preparation for a new school year isn’t all that different from what mine was and what students do today (albeit, my Trapper Keeper can’t compete with their Chromebook). Just like students get new school supplies and meet new teachers, managers are incorporating new products, opening new facilities and revamping processes to guarantee a successful year.

As mentioned in our cover story, tackling all the necessary tasks to get schools and universities ready for a new crop of students is not easy. Budgets, staffing and support from stakeholders can impede progress — yet managers push on and find ways to accomplish their goals.

Just days before this issue printed, I spent time with a few exceptional school and university managers discussing some of these challenges. In addition to those mentioned above, they added time restrictions, interruptions from summer programs, and a growing number of special projects to the list of roadblocks.

Challenges aside, there is good news. Mastering these struggles over summer likely makes for a more successful school year. The work is tough now, but instilling cleaning best practices today will open up opportunities for alternative project work as the year goes on. To quote one expert, “The best practices of today become the standard processes of tomorrow.”

As summer winds down, know that you’ve done the hard part. Your staff and your school are ready to open the doors to a new school year. Make the best practices you created all summer become your standard cleaning processes that propel you through the year.