Healthy Schools

Get an A+ in Restroom Maintenance

• By Jorge Mtanous
• 08/13/24

Clean school restrooms are vital for students’ wellbeing and education. Research shows unclean restrooms can amplify the spread of bacteria and viruses. lllness is a main cause of student absenteeism, which can lead to poor school performance and potentially school dropout.

To combat school absenteeism and promote a healthy learning environment, school custodians should prioritize restroom cleanliness this back-to-school season. Start the school year off on the right foot by reviewing your custodial team’s cleaning methods and priorities and develop a cleaning plan that focuses on restrooms.

How Can You Make a Difference?

Before hallways are filled again, several recommendations can be implemented to help enhance the cleanliness of school restrooms and set students up for success this year. Use this time to connect with your school custodial team and outline expectations for each restroom and ways to help keep students healthy.

• Utilize a Checklist: When school custodians are pulled in many directions throughout a school day, from cleaning up lunch messes to setting up presentation stages, school restroom tasks can be easily forgotten. In order to keep restroom cleaning on task, consider using a checklist or online audit software that allows your custodial team to stay current on which tasks have been completed at each restroom.
• Reduce Costly Clogs: School restrooms can be a messy place. Toilet clogs due to an abundance of toilet paper or paper towels being flushed or social media trends can damage plumbing and leave students dissatisfied with the state of their school restrooms. To help reduce costly restroom maintenance when it comes to clogs, look for toilet paper with active enzymes that eat away at clogs or paper towels that dissolve within several minutes. Both options can help make restrooms a more pleasant place.
• Shine a Light on Sustainability: School custodians and maintenance departments should consider adding automatic paper towel dispensers. If a school is working to achieve sustainability goals, custodians should look for automatic paper towel dispensers that help reduce single-use plastic, like those made from recovered ocean plastic. Younger generations, like Gen Z and Gen Alpha, are more focused on climate change and sustainable practices than older generations.
• Provide Gentle Reminders: It’s not just up to custodians to keep restrooms clean and students healthy. Students also play a major role in proper waste management when they use the restroom and should learn proper handwashing techniques to help minimize the spread of germs. Research has shown that over 50% of students would be more likely to wash their hands if schools posted signage in restrooms reminding them to do so. Printable resources can be found on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.
• Ask for Feedback: In order to show students and teachers you care about their well-being, ask for their feedback on restroom maintenance. For example, maybe the soap your school uses leaves some students’ hands feeling dry, so they avoid washing their hands with it. Or others prefer paper towels over hand dryers. It is important to ensure that paper towels are stocked at each restroom to increase hand hygiene compliance. Implement a suggestion box or conduct a survey among faculty and staff.

Prioritize Restrooms This Back-to-School Season

The new school year is approaching, and students are preparing to return to school campuses in a few short weeks. During this time, school custodians and facility managers must get buildings in tip-top shape, especially restrooms. Although they’re often behind the scenes, school custodians play an important role in establishing a successful learning environment.

While various cleaning and maintenance tasks can pull a custodial team in many directions, develop a cleaning plan that ensures each school restroom is fully stocked and cleaned daily. It may be a challenge, but products and resources are available that can help speed up the cleaning process and leave students happy and healthy for the year to come.