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Arrows like this are on the hallway floors to remind students and staff on which side they are supposed to travel.

Boquet Valley Central School District Director of Facilities Jim Varno shows the mechanism for mixing the cleaner used to sanitize the school.

Boquet Valley Central School District custodian Rick St.Dennis sanitizes a classroom with a backpack electro-static mist sprayer. Though pre-COVID cleaning measures continue, there are additional responsibilities which are taken by custodial staff and teachers.

Arrows like this are on the hallway floors to remind students and staff on which side they are supposed to travel.

Boquet Valley Central School District Director of Facilities Jim Varno shows the mechanism for mixing the cleaner used to sanitize the school.

Boquet Valley Central School District custodian Rick St.Dennis sanitizes a classroom with a backpack electro-static mist sprayer. Though pre-COVID cleaning measures continue, there are additional responsibilities which are taken by custodial staff and teachers.

ELIZABETHTOWN — Similar to other districts, Boquet Valley Central School District (BVCSD) utilizes extra degrees of precaution in an attempt to thwart the spread of COVID-19 among its students and staff.

In the past, much of the cleaning started right after the students headed home and many custodians worked from around 3:00 to 11:00, or perhaps started after an afternoon bus run.

As the school day ended, teachers would remind the students to pick up around the periphery of their desks as it was not the custodian’s responsibility to figure out the owner of each pencil. Depending on the surface, the floor would either be dry-mopped or vacuumed, and sinks wiped. Generally, approximately ten minutes per room was sufficient.

Lavatories required a disinfection of toilets and sinks and the floors wet mopped. The hallways were also swept or vacuumed and occasionally buffed.

Though pre-COVID cleaning measures continue, there are additional responsibilities which are now taken by the custodial staff and teachers.

After the basic cleaning, custodians go through every classroom, hallway and lavatory with an electrostatic sprayer which dispenses a fine spray of disinfectant. “We basically clean as we did before, but the spray is the biggest difference. The custodians put extra effort in cleaning,” BVCSD Director of Facilities Jim Varno indicated. “For the busses, we clean all seats after each run and then fog the bus after the final run of the day.”

The agent is peroxide based which cleans, disinfects and sanitizes within two seconds of application, but it is generally left on the surface for a minute before wiping. The same formula is utilized in the classroom squirt bottles and backpack fogger. Varno prepares the mixture in a locked custodian closet using two ounces of concentrate per gallon.

All surfaces that are touched during the day, such as light switches and door knobs, are sprayed and wiped.

Teachers also play an active part in minimizing the chance of infection. During the four minutes between classes, the desks and chairs that have been use during the period are sprayed with the same solution utilized by the custodial staff and then wiped with a microfiber cloth. The cloths in turn are washed daily.

“Teachers keep windows open more than ever,” said Varno. “We have placed three hand sanitizer dispensers in every hallway and ten in the cafeteria.”

After a staff member or student has tested positive for COVID-19, all parents, and staff are notified. Varno indicated he was among those who spent a good part of the weekend making phone calls after a recent positive affirmation.

Classroom and cafeteria seating charts as well as transportation records including who may have been at the bus stop are reviewed.

The facility is then closed for cleaning and any rooms that may have been exposed are quarantined for two weeks.

Many schools have gone into the so-called “hybrid” modes. BVCS has students attending Mondays and Tuesdays, then Wednesdays used for cleaning and then on site Thursdays and Fridays. While at home, students receive on-line instruction, or in some cases assignments are delivered and picked up.

The cleaning procedures are generally the same on both the Mountain View Campus which incorporates junior and senior high school students, and the Lake View Campus that houses the elementary school.

As far as extra expenses, BVCSD Superintendent Joshua Mayer explained, “The question of cost is difficult to answer. We have applied for and are hopeful that we will receive FEMA funds to reimburse the district for a variety of items including cleaning supplies, masks, sanitizer, etc. Doing my best to just isolate the cost of cleaning supplies, it was about $25,000. This included some electrostatic sprayers, and other small equipment to assist with the cleaning as well as the actual cleaning supplies. There was not much of an additional cost to personnel.”

Meyer added, “We have had a few positive cases this year and that can trigger some overtime hours, but it hasn’t been much. We have been able to keep our Wednesdays for remote learning and this has allowed for additional time to clean each campus.

“There is the potential that all the materials and all the hours are reimbursed. I am sure that there is also the potential that none of it will get approved for reimbursement. The costs of doing this were certainly more than we planned for in a normal budget, but less than I thought they would be over all.”

The United Way has donated masks and hand sanitizer, and the district was able to purchase some masks, sanitizer, and other PPE through a consortium at discounted prices.

In concluding his remarks Meyer expressed his gratitude. “The students, faculty, and staff have been wonderful about their roles and responsibilities in helping to contain this virus. It has been a community effort, and that effort is appreciated.”

Email Alvin Reiner at: rondackrambler@gmail.com

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