State of our Schools: School cleaners prepare for upcoming school year

As schools prepare to reopen in the city, a major focus is on keeping the schools clean and safe for everyone.

News 12 Staff

Aug 12, 2020, 11:10 PM

Updated 1,523 days ago

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As schools prepare to reopen in the city, a major focus is on keeping the schools clean and safe for everyone. 
"Cleaning desks, cleaning chairs, doing floors, we're sanitizing the whole building,” says school cleaner Luke Morales. 
Morales is a school cleaner at Bronx Arena High School and says they’ve been keeping the school clean and safe throughout the pandemic since it has been open for free meal distribution. 
"We are still here doing what we have to do to make sure that the kids have a safe and clean environment when they come back,” says Morales. 
He says that while it has been overwhelming at times, they’ve had plenty of practice doing deep cleans since March, as the school has remained open as a resource center. 
"My passion is to make sure that everybody comes in and can feel safe,” said Morales. 
The Department of Education’s reopening calls for cleaning and disinfecting all high-touch surfaces. 
The school says the cleaning staff is using electrostatic machines for a more efficient and thorough sanitizing process. 
They say surfaces need to be cleaned and then disinfected, which is a labor-intensive process. 
The school says they are working closely with the DOE, which is in the process of hiring additional cleaners.