Regina Public Schools introduces new cleaning device to help keep kids safe

Regina’s public school division has revealed its new cleaning protocols to keep kids heading back to class this fall safe.

Several new hand-held cleaning devices made by Graco have been purchased for each of the division’s schools to ensure surfaces in classrooms, bathrooms and buses are disinfected to limit the potential spread of COVID-19.

Henry Funke demonstrates the Graco disinfecting sprayer on school desks. (Libby Giesbrecht/980 CJME)

The device, which resembles a paint sprayer, uses a trigger system to spray Vitaloxide, a disinfectant provided by Stay Safe Solutions.

Henry Funke, operations manager at Regina Public Schools, says the disinfectant will be used throughout all of the division’s buildings, including the board office, elementary and high schools, and school buses.

“We will basically be misting the air. It atomizes the disinfectant and as it falls on the surface, with a 10-minute contact and dry, it can kill up to COVID,” Funke said.

Bill Rennie, a Graco representative for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Thunder Bay, said the sprayer is a calibrated instrument with a controlled spray that will result in “less waste, less dry time and more coverage.”

The Graco sprayer has 100 per cent coverage and no need for wiping, Rennie continued.

“Every time this hits the surface, you have to know the kids are going to be safer,” he said.

The disinfectant will be used once each day in classrooms and three times each day in bathrooms in schools.

“Our protocol is every single morning … we hope to have the entire school disinfected,” Funke explained.

Cleaning will take place in bathrooms from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.

A Graco device will spray Vitaloxide to disinfect school surfaces for students, teachers and staff this fall. (Libby Giesbrecht/980 CJME)

“Within that period, our facility people will be going through with this machine or a little bigger machine and disinfecting,” Funke said. “And then again at night, all the washrooms will be disinfected.”

In classrooms, teachers will be able to do additional cleaning as they feel is needed throughout the day.

This procedure will be done by custodial and maintenance staff in addition to all other usual cleaning duties.

Funke said, at this point, he does not anticipate any longer shifts or more staff being required to fulfil the new cleaning procedures. However, he is hiring new casual workers in case of illness for the upcoming school year.

“We’re going to clean like we’ve always cleaned in the past but now we’ve had to add a disinfectant, which is this system,” Funke explained.

“This is a starting stage … We as a group, all the employees of the Regina School Board, will be working as a team and we’ll be looking for feedback and, of course, results about how the schools are doing and then we’ll be flexible about what needs to be done more or less.”

Funke said the Vitaloxide disinfectant doesn’t require personal protective equipment, is child-friendly and has been approved by the Canadian government.

As a precaution, however, cleaning staff will still wear eye coverings and a temporary mask due to the aerosol nature of the disinfectant.

“We really liked it because it is really safe,” Funke said.

Each public school will have anywhere from two to nine devices, depending on the size of the school.

“We made sure (to understand) that all of our people need to get the schools as safe as possible,” Funke said.

“Everybody is going to have to pull together because the school won’t be the same. Let’s be honest, this is a different time. This is a different fall than we’ve ever had.”