St. Vrain Valley School District will spend nearly $1 million for more cleaning crews to scrub classrooms and hallways to prevent COVID-19 infections when students return to district buildings next month.
The school board voted Wednesday to hire five companies for a total of $945,000 to bolster the work done by school custodians during the day, according to a staff report to the board.
The five companies are American Facility Services Group, BestCCS, CCS, COMMAND Service Systems, Inc., and Metro Building Services.
“Each company will provide 15 to 20 people who will be staffed throughout the district and provide additional COVID-19 related disinfection/cleaning services throughout the day,” according to the staff report. “They will also address the understaffed situation at some schools.”
To help pay the new crews, $600,000 will come from state COVID-19 reimbursements and $345,000 from the district’s general fund, according to the staff report.
The hiring of more custodians is part of a safety plan initiated by the district to prepare for the return of in-person learning beginning Oct. 5. Students will split time between school buildings and remote learning. Students started the school year learning at home, over concerns about the COVID-19 spread in school buildings.
Those families who are uncomfortable with a return to in-person learning can still enroll in the district’s online LaunchED program. Information about the program and other details about the SVVSD COVID response are available here.
District students and staff members must follow health guidelines when they filter into school buildings, including wearing face coverings while at school and adhering to social distancing, Superintendent Don Haddad stated in a letter sent to parents earlier this week.
“We have hired additional custodial staff so that each school has increased support for sanitizing and cleaning throughout each day and again in the evenings,” Haddad stated in the letter.
