{"id":7726,"date":"2018-05-01T14:34:17","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T18:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=7726"},"modified":"2018-05-09T15:51:08","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T19:51:08","slug":"vbcps-is-2018-green-cleaning-award-recipient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/vbcps-is-2018-green-cleaning-award-recipient\/","title":{"rendered":"VBCPS is 2018 Green Cleaning Award recipient"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) is one of only three school divisions and three universities across the country recognized with a 2018 Green Cleaning Award for Schools and Universities. VBCPS was recognized with an Honorable Mention.<\/p>\n

The award, which is presented by the Green Cleaning Network, the Healthy Schools Campaign and American School & University (ASU), recognizes educational institutions that have exemplary green cleaning programs. Specifically, \u201ca green cleaning program goes beyond chemicals and equipment. It includes policies, procedures, training and shared responsibility efforts that minimize the impact of cleaning on the health of building occupants and staff, and that protect the environment as a whole,\u201d according to the ASU website.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo us, it\u2019s a big deal,\u201d said Director of Custodial Services, Larry Ames.<\/p>\n

He said that the school division\u2019s green cleaning efforts date back to 2006 \u2013 right after the school division opened Hermitage Elementary School, which was Virginia\u2019s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) School.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started looking at different chemicals, equipment and other things that we could add to our program.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those changes was switching to green products.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere was a misconception when they first came out that because the products were green, that they weren\u2019t going to be effective cleaning,\u201d Ames recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that we buy has to have that third-party verification, such as Green Seal, Safer Choice or ECOLOGO certification and also be registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make sure that it not only\u00a0cleans, disinfects and meets quality standards, but has gone through independent rigorous testing beyond the standards set up by the government. The chemicals have to sanitize and not harm the environment,\u201d Ames stated. \u201cThey have to meet the cleaning standard and also the green standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of each day after students have gone home, teams of custodians go to work thoroughly cleaning what Ames describes as \u201ctouch points\u201d in every part of the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do every night is wipe down all touch point areas in every room in every single school,\u201d he said. \u201cAnything that a student might touch, we sanitize it every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Custodial Services\u00a0is also integrating technology. To ensure cleaning effectiveness and financial efficiency, chemical distribution units are now in place in every building. These units automatically dilute product \u201cso that we are not diluting too much or too little\u201d according to Ames. That also enables Custodial Services to purchase concentrated product at lower prices and save money.<\/p>\n

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Ames is also looking into bringing in additional innovation to be tested: a smartphone-based system that allows custodians to use a scan code when they enter a room. If the night custodian notices something that needs repair, such as a lightbulb, they could log it and the system notifies the day custodian. The system also enables custodians to log in what they completed in that particular room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the next thing that we\u2019re looking into,\u201d Ames states.<\/p>\n

While they\u2019re cleaning, custodians are also minimizing the school division\u2019s carbon footprint in another way \u2013 through energy savings.<\/p>\n

The division employs the \u201cFollow the Custodian\u201d practice, where teams of custodians work together to maximize cleaning and, as they finish a building\u2019s wing, they turn off all of the lights. In summertime, thermostats are also on setback times so air conditioning is only running while the team is cleaning and shuts off when they leave the areas.<\/p>\n

Even the equipment that the school division uses played was an important consideration in the award.<\/p>\n

At Old Donation School, \u201cwe are using what\u2019s called an On-Site Generation system that uses salt and electrified water to produces a disinfecting chemical that has no harmful effects,\u201d according to Ames. \u201cAfter seven days, the solutions converts to water which we can use to water plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teams also polish floors with scrubbers and burnishers that require less maintenance and operate at low decibels. Teams also use High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance, better known HEPA, filter vacuums to trap harmful air particles from dispersing into the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing is our floor finish. We make sure that everything that we use has very low Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOC, which doesn\u2019t break down. Actually, we are one of the few school divisions that use the California standard. California has the strictest standards in the country,\u201d Ames added.<\/p>\n

Cleaning doesn\u2019t happen just at night. Preventative maintenance also happens while students are in school. Custodians continue cleaning the building and even disinfect tables between lunches for cleanliness and to prevent the spread of any potential allergies.<\/p>\n

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To further protect students\u2019 health, every school custodian maintains safety data sheets that are readily available to any parent who may wish to review products.<\/p>\n

Ames graciously credits his hardworking team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a great custodial staff who are assigned to approximately 17,500 square-feet per custodian.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where training comes in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe standardized our practices and our policies by bringing all head custodians in for training a couple of times year as well as offer different training programs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Brand new custodians go through an initial training followed by a refresher course after a few months. Teaming up with the Office of Professional Growth and Innovation, custodians are also encouraged to enroll in a leadership class that provides skillful training on managing employees and keeping efficient open communications with the school\u2019s leadership team.<\/p>\n

During the summer, custodians can also partake in training for projects that they haven\u2019t worked on before, such as stripping floors, or other skills that they\u2019ll need to know before becoming a head custodian.<\/p>\n

Why are all of these policies and practices important?<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery night we want to make sure we provide a healthy, clean and safe environment so that students have a safe environment for learning to take place,\u201d Ames emphasized.<\/p>\n

Ralph Thorpe, head day custodian at Kellam High School, agreed and added one more reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, we should do all that we can to make sure that the Earth is kept for the next generations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) is one of only three school divisions and three universities across the country recognized with a 2018 Green Cleaning Award for Schools and Universities. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainable-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7726"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7738,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7726\/revisions\/7738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}