MATTAWA —Wahluke School District Maintenance Director Matt Hyndman has new cleaning techniques that he is hoping to put into practice in the district.

“We are going to totally gut and restructure the custodial department,” Hyndman told the Wahluke School Board on Tuesday, Jan. 14. “We want to have the cleanest working environment for the kids. I am a firm believer in soap and water.”

Currently, custodians are keeping track of how much soap each school uses. Those schools that use more soap have fewer children out sick.

Richland is one of the leading school districts in the area dealing with sanitation.

“Their kids aren’t gone as much in the winter,” Hyndman said.

Richland has started using a disinfectant that only takes 60 seconds to kill bacteria. Wahluke is currently using a disinfectant that needs 10 minutes to kill bacteria. The new disinfectant is like the kind used in hospitals.

Hyndman also hopes to implement a system where students are responsible for cleaning their own desks at the end of the day. Currently, custodians are responsible for cleaning student desks and average 20 minutes per day per classroom. Richland has instituted this system with good results.

“If we have kids clean their own desk, we will have more buy-in,” Hyndman said. “Maybe they won’t write on the desks. Revamping the whole custodial department isn’t going to be easy. We’ll start with one school and have them train everyone else.”

One of the ways that success of the new cleaning methods will be implemented will be through the use of a bacterial count meter. This device measures the number of active bacteria present on sample swabs taken from locations that staff wish to have tested.

In Richland, custodians are in competition to see who can get a zero bacteria count in their area. Those who get over 90 active bacteria on their swab test fail.

To demonstrate how the bacteria meter works, Hyndman asked for someone to allow him to swab their phone. Board member Seth Weeks volunteered his phone and received an active bacteria count of 723. Hyndman then disinfected the door handle of the boardroom. Even with the swab accidentally slipping and touching a non-disinfected part of the door, he still got an active bacteria count of 86.

While the new cleaning system won’t stop bacteria from coming into the school, it will greatly decrease the amount allowed to stay in the school from day to day.

“When someone touches it, it will get dirty again,” Hyndman said. “At the end of the day, there will still be 200 to 300 active bacteria. The more you use it, the better it gets and the less bacteria that is around.”

Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at [email protected].