While Lincoln students are quarantined at home, the school’s custodians are hard at work trying to keep our school clean and safe. They are preparing Lincoln for when students and faculty are able to return.

“Since March 16 my crew and I spent two weeks sanitizing furniture and touchpoints, light switches, door handles and the like, well as mopping all floors with a disinfectant solution. We also deep cleaned all the restrooms throughout the school,” says Roger Hasting, the head custodian at Lincoln.

Frank Leavitt, the custodians’ senior manager for PPS, also adds that after the custodians disinfect classrooms, they close them off so those surfaces will remain untouched.

“PPS Custodial Staff is focusing on high touch surfaces, per the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) recommendation.  The products PPS custodians use are approved for disinfection,” says Leavitt. 

Hasting and his crew worked hard to disinfect Lincoln until March 30, when all of the custodial team except for Hasting and his second in command, William Cooper, were directed to take paid leave.

“Custodial staff are on call so that we are adhering to social distancing and having our staff focus on PPS’s essential services during this pandemic. We are adhering to Governor Brown’s ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ [order] as much as possible to ensure the safety and health of all PPS staff,” says Leavitt.

Hasting recounts how he and Cooper “were instructed to visit the building daily and check for security issues and vandalism as well as police the grounds for trash and dump the trash cans in the yard.”

Custodians throughout the district have been working every other week for two hours a day. This is how PPS is ensuring that they are still social distancing while on the job.

“All PPS staff that are providing essential services to students and families are adhering to strict social distancing standards to ensure the health and safety of all staff and community,” says Leavitt.

Just like many students, Lincoln’s custodians are eager to get back into the normal routine of school.

“Now that the schools are closed till fall many of us are a little anxious to get back to work getting the school ready for that day. But I am not too sure when that will happen,” says Hasting.