Principle 8: Hygiene (Personal and Space)
Require all children and staff to clean hands (via hand-washing, sanitizing), clean and wipe down surfaces, especially high-touch surfaces, and conduct deep cleaning of building spaces to reduce exposure to COVID-19 droplets.
Objectives:
8.1 Develop a plan for hand-washing/sanitizing throughout the school day
Likely Implementation Level DISTRICT
Status
Priority Level
NOTE: Update your school's or district's status and priority level in your progress tracker (link at the bottom of the homepage).
Key Recommendations for Consideration
Prepare a schedule for hand-washing/sanitizing.
Place hand sanitizer in key locations in the building (e.g., entryways, bathrooms, classrooms).
For each school, determine the quantities needed of soap and hand sanitizers, paper towels, and automatic soap/sanitizer dispensing units.
Identify and contact suppliers to order supplies.
Train staff and students on proper hand-washing and hand sanitizing procedures.
Plain soap is preferable to antibacterial soap (Anon 2020)
Students under age 6 should only use hand sanitizer with adult supervision (Anon 2020).
Educate staff and students to:
Use smiles, waves, and thumbs-up instead of hugs, handshakes, and high-fives (Jones et al. 2020).
Avoid sharing food, drinks, or utensils (Jones et al. 2020).
Starting Point Tools
Sample schedule:
Immediately Before: leaving home, leaving the classroom, eating, touching shared objects, touching one’s face, and leaving school (Jones et al. 2020).
Immediately After: arriving at school, when entering a new classroom during the day, finishing lunch, touching shared objects, using the bathroom, coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose, and arriving at home (Jones et al. 2020).
Determining quantities of supplies should be based on:
The number of students and staff.
The frequency of hand cleaning (hand-washing/sanitizing schedule).
The mode of cleaning (soap vs sanitizer).
Placement of automatic sanitizers.
It is estimated that ⅓ gallon of hand sanitizer per classroom, per week at 100% attendance, is needed.
CDC Printable Posters: Example K-12 Students: Did You Wash Your Hands?
CDC hand-washing guide: Halfway down the page is guidance on how to hand-wash (Follow Five Steps to Wash Your Hands the Right Way).
Considerations and Questions for Team Decision-Making and Reflection
Which hand cleanings will be done with soap (e.g., after using the bathroom) compared to with hand sanitizer (e.g., entering the school/classroom)? If soap and water can’t be accessed without bathroom crowding, provide hand sanitizer for hand-washing (Jones et al. 2020).
Other Resources
Country/District Examples
Denmark: Conducts hourly hand-washing to the point where eczema and skin irritation has become an issue, added hand-washing stations outside of buildings.
Taiwan: Requires students to disinfect their hands and shoes before entering the building and before every class.
Ideas
To efficiently sanitize students’ hands as they enter school, try the “assembly line” method: funnel children through a line and have a staff member squirt hand sanitizer into their hands as they pass by. Have the students wait in line with markings every 6 feet to ensure proper distancing. Staggered start times could further reduce the time it takes to sanitize upon entry.
Students dropped off at the curb could be met by staff with hand sanitizer as they exit their cars. Note that these students should avoid entering the line using the “cruise-ship” method to avoid repeat sanitizing.
Hold a Zoom webinar to educate parents and students on new hand-washing protocols.
Suppliers may have periodic shortages or delays. Schedule orders for the year rather than when needed to maintain a priority position. When supplies are available, stock up to carry the students and staff through periods of supply shortages.
8.2 Establish a plan for effective sanitization
Likely Implementation Level DISTRICT
Status
Priority Level
NOTE: Update your school's or district's status and priority level in your progress tracker (link at the bottom of the homepage).
Key Recommendations for Consideration
Define roles and responsibilities for cleaning designated areas.
Determine how frequently various surfaces will need to be cleaned, including manipulatives (e.g., toys, equipment).
Develop a protocol for classroom/school cleaning and disinfecting when a positive COVID-19 case (student or staff) is identified.
For each school, determine the quantities needed of cleaning solutions and supplies, and protective equipment for custodial staff.
Identify and contact suppliers to order supplies.
Place items in storage that are difficult to sanitize between uses.
Develop a protocol for bus sanitization (method, frequency, etc.).
Starting Point Tools
Parabola Project: How to Prepare and Care for Your Classroom
Cleaning frequency:
See Harvard Healthy Buildings Report (page 39) for cleaning frequency table.
Provide adequate training and personal protective equipment to protect custodial staff.
See CDC facility cleaning for guidance on how to clean and personal precautions.
Bus sanitization: Follow the guidelines for cleaning different types of surfaces as outlined in CDC facility cleaning.
Consider modifying buses so that drivers open the doors rather than students (Resolve to Save Lives 2020)
Considerations and Questions for Team Decision-Making and Reflection
Are there enough custodians to implement our ideal cleaning protocol? If not, can we use staff and students to help with the cleaning? Can we safely modify the cleaning protocol to be completed by the available custodians?
Other Resources
Country/District Examples
Norway: Disinfects toys and materials twice a day and does not allow students to bring their own toys nor those that are not easily cleaned.
Federal Guidance for School Bus Operations during the COVID-19 Pandemic: guidance from Canada on frequency and method of cleaning school buses.
Copenhagen International School Materials Guidelines K-5 example of materials purchased and sanitization guidelines.
Ideas
Part of students’ daily chores can include cleaning.
Use prep periods to clean rooms.
Provide revised schedules for night and day custodians.
8.3 Provide each class with adequate school supplies to minimize sharing between students, and provide adequate cleaning supplies to properly sanitize high-touch surfaces and shared supplies
Likely Implementation Level DISTRICT
Status
Priority Level
NOTE: Update your school's or district's status and priority level in your progress tracker (link at the bottom of the homepage).
Key Recommendations for Consideration
Ensure each student has their own supplies. Maintain separation of individual students’ belongings.
If objects must be shared, develop a cleaning protocol for disinfecting shared supplies between uses.
Provide disposable disinfectant wipes for individuals to use before using shared objects.
If requesting families to provide materials, develop a process for purchasing and allocating supplies to families most in need (e.g. qualifying for free/reduced lunch).
For shared printed materials such as books, adopt “material quarantine” policy (e.g. consider creating a separate shelf for each day’s return and rotate availability).
Starting Point Tools
Parabola Project: How to Prepare and Care for Your Classroom
Considerations and Questions for Team Decision-Making and Reflection
What are the budget implications of providing supplies for each child? Can we get supplies elsewhere, such as donation of tablets or asking families to provide supplies?
Other Resources
Country/District Examples
Ideas
Set up loaner computers for a student for the whole day and sanitize after school.
Consider going “paperless” as developmentally appropriate.
Provide each student with a box or a bag for their supplies.