Cleanliness is next to Canner-ness as Upper Adams School District (UASD) hears updates to sanitation and reopening during a school board workshop June 1.
As Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases continue to drop in Adams County and updates are provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UASD plans for reopening completely for all 2021-2022 school year students, according to school board President Tom Wilson.
“It is a testament to the administration, the teachers, the students, and particularly their parents and guardians that we’ve had as little impact to our schools as we’ve had related to COVID-19,” he said.
Aramark Facilities Director Christopher McMahon provided a comprehensive update to the accomplishments of the sanitation staff and how UASD will continue to operate safely.
Aramark Facilities Director Christopher McMahon provides information about district sanitation to the UASD school board Zoom meeting June 1.
Despite the school district’s previous shutdown, maintenance, custodial, and grounds crews were still in everyday to ensure safety and sanitation, according to McMahon. Working tirelessly, plumbing, repurposing, and other reconstruction projects were able to be tackled with gusto within the now emptied facilities, he said.
Crews have diligently striven to not only ensure all students can return to full-time in-person learning, but also maintain the highest degree of safety throughout the year, he said.
“Aramark has been committed, as you know, to utilizing all information from the World Health, CDC, state, and federal, and local departments of health,” he said.
The teams took full advantage of the empty facilities to completely sanitize and disinfect equipment, buses, and “every doorknob in every facility in every building in the school district,” he said. The sanitation super teams also spent over 60 hours pressure washing the stadium to ensure a for a social distancing meeting area, McMahon said. A specific library shelf was created for the sole purpose of quarantining returned books and classroom layouts were adjusted for social distancing, he said.
Specialized sanitation programs, equipment, and techniques that been implemented will continue to be utilized and taught.
“So you know you have broken the chain of infection,” McMahon said.
In other business, final adoption vote the 2022 fiscal year budget is set for the June 15 school board meeting.
A.L. Grabenstein, reporter, is a graduate of Philadelphia's La Salle University with a B.A in Communication and has been a journalist since 2016. She has reported for the Gettysburg Times and the Times Herald in Norristown, PA. Grabenstein moved to Gettysburg from Montgomery County in 2019. She was born in San Antonio, TX., and previously lived in Virginia, and North Carolina. Grabenstein is actively involved in the borough of Gettysburg and loves giving voices to the local community.