Over the past two weeks, Aiken County Public School District custodians have trained with industry-proven methods bent on improving the health and safety of students and staff and the appearance and cleanliness of schools.

The training, which involved three days of hands-on learning and two days of classroom instruction, is part of the District’s effort to adopt a standardized “Health and Safety Cleaning Program” and establish best cleaning practices.

The week-long training regimen was led by Augusta Janitorial Supplies. Training took place at Aiken High School and the District’s administrative offices, and the goals of the program extend far beyond cleaning products and techniques.

“One of the main goals is to help reduce absenteeism, which leads to improved learning,” stated Blaine Riley of Augusta Janitorial Supplies.

Riley said the program also incorporates the work of Dr. Michael Berry of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose current research is focused on the science of cleaning for schools and universities.

Mildred Cullum, who serves as lead custodian at South Aiken High School, said the techniques she learned during the training will pay immediate dividends.

“This process is not as difficult as what we were doing,” Ms. Cullum commented following the hands-on portion of the training. “(The new process) saves time, because where it took an hour or two to do something, now it takes 45 minutes and it is done right and with safety as our number one concern.”

The new cleaning procedures follow guidelines set by the International Sanitary Supply Association through the Cleaning Industry Management Standard.

With initial training now complete, the District becomes just the second K-12 organization to achieve national certification and the first in the state of South Carolina to achieve that distinction. Custodians and lead custodians who completed the program will now be recognized as Certified Cleaners and Master Cleaners, respectively.

Marvetta Walker serves as a custodian at North Aiken Elementary and says she cannot wait to put what she has learned into practice at her school.

“I’m looking forward to improving the cleanliness in our restrooms,” she stated.

Glenn Bates is the lead custodian at Aiken Middle School, and says the training also gave him a boost of confidence as well.

“Now we have a better process for things like burnishing our floors and maintaining them over time, and this program has just enhanced my overall knowledge of how things should be cleaned and cared for,” he said.

Blaine Riley came away impressed with the dedication and enthusiasm of the District’s custodians and their collective attention to detail.

“The level of questions we had, the acceptance of the training and the interest in professional development was astounding. I had multiple trainers who told me that it was possibly the best group they had ever trained with,” Riley commented.

Kip Gunter, the District’s maintenance director, said improvements to high-traffic areas such as floors and restrooms will be noticeable immediately, while others will be subtle but no less important to the accomplishment of the program’s goals.

“We will be focusing on touchpoints like door knobs, light switches and desk tops where you often may see germs being spread, and also on our air quality through the changing of filters and cleaning of vents,” he said. “There is a lot to this program and there are a lot of moving parts, as it will involve our custodians as well as our maintenance staff, but we’re going to come together as a team and get the job done. We want this focus and attention on health, safety and cleanliness to start with us and spread to our students and faculty as well.”

Blaine Riley says based upon his experiences over the past two weeks of training, he has no doubt that the District will succeed in its mission.

“I have been very impressed with the quality of the staff here in Aiken County, and I don’t always find that as I do this on a large scale basis,” Riley added. “We know there are some standardization things that need to be worked out, but because of the culture (of excellence) that is already present here we know once that happens the level of cleanliness in the schools will increase.”

Link to District Press Release: 2016JuneCustodianTraining

District Custodians Complete Health and Safety Training and Certification