FRANKLIN — Officials at Franklin schools are providing an inside look at efforts to keep students and staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools are on a hybrid schedule and are scheduling extra sanitizing in classrooms, restrooms and the cafeteria.
This is what's happening when kids are not in class. Jeremy Hoskins is at work. He's the head custodian at Franklin Middle School.
"This is something we started doing, extra steps in sanitizing," Hoskins said.
On Wednesdays, he and a team of seven have plenty of room to do extra cleaning. Students are on a hybrid schedule — half attend Mondays and Tuesdays, the other half Thursdays and Fridays.
"What it comes down to we are doing our part and we feel it's good for kids to come in, for teachers to come in," Hoskins said.
Custodians are using a hypochlorous acid spray to clean high traffic areas. The school system said it consulted with the county health department before using it.
Beyond classrooms, bathrooms are a main target of sanitizing, as is the cafeteria which has undergone changes to allow for social distancing.
Franklin Community High School is on the same timetable as the middle school. The elementary schools, which are offering in-person learning every day, have separate cleaning schedules.
"The same equipment, same cleaning processes, same checklist of cleaning tasks — we just fit that in at different times of the day," Jeff Sewell, operations director for Franklin schools, said.
Days like this are the new normal as everyone is working to avoid shutdowns and keep schools safe and open.
District leaders said they are using the hypochlorous acid spray because it leaves no residue, it's safe to touch and there is no smell.
Another safety measure, students will not be using lockers to avoid any hanging out in the hallway.
