 MEMO

  FORMTEXT  Environment & Resources Division 



Date	July 19, 2007



To	Bill Silagi, EPA



From	Dave Mancinelli and Penny Schafer



Subject	LRRP Rule – Summary of calls to seven school districts –
Cleaning and maintenance activities



This memo summarizes calls placed to seven school district offices for
the purpose of collecting information on cleaning methods used in
pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade classrooms by custodial
and maintenance staff.  We selected school districts based on student
population and location within the country; contacted school districts
differ in student membership size and state EPA region.  This method
ensured that survey results would represent school districts of varying
characteristics.

Results Summary

Of the seven school districts, six districts reported having PK-12
grades; the remaining district has only kindergarten and first grade
classrooms.  

Six districts reported having both carpet and either ceramic or vinyl
tile.  The remaining district only has carpet.

In all of the districts, the custodial staff vacuums carpets daily. 
Four of the districts use HEPA vacuums.  

Sweeping of tile floors generally occurs daily; washing occurs either
daily or weekly.  Three districts reported using a 1-bucket wet mopping
system (though one of these respondents was unsure).  One respondent
reported using a 2-bucket wet mopping system.  The remaining three
respondents were unsure of the bucket mopping system.

There are more thorough cleaning events during the summer in all
schools.  This includes strip waxing the tile surfaces, shampooing
carpets, and wiping/washing all countertops and surfaces.  In some
schools, more thorough cleaning occurs during the winter break as well.

All districts schedule larger maintenance work for the summer months
when children are not present.  No district has specific
post-maintenance cleaning regimens.  Instead, the degree of clean-up is
dependent upon the size of the maintenance work.  Generally, these are
“as necessary” clean-up operations.

In-house staff perform most small maintenance and repair work in all
districts.  For larger jobs or jobs requiring permits or specialized
skills, schools will hire outside contractors.  

Sample Selection

Student Membership Size

We sorted school districts according to school membership size and
percentile.  Roughly 90 percent of school districts in the NCES database
have less than approximately 6,250 children.

We selected each school district to be within a unique 10 point range in
the percentile rankings.  For example, district number one is in the
10th or smaller percentile, school number two is in the 10th to 20th
percentile, and so on. 

District Location

Each contacted district represents a unique area of the country.  To
ensure location diversity, we selected each district so that no two
districts would be located within the same EPA region.

 Information on school districts was obtained from the NCES Common Core
of Data Local Education Agency Universe Survey: School Year 2004–05.

 

memorandum

