Built around
the school calendar.
Calendar-driven programs, vetted crews, and summers that actually get used.
- 01Built around the school calendar
- 02Vetted, screened crews
- 03Classroom and high-touch focus
- 04Gym and corridor floor programs
School facilities run on a calendar, not a clock. The summer window is short, the expectations at open are absolute, and every adult in the building during the school year is subject to scrutiny. Nexara staffs and schedules accordingly.
Four things we hold to.
- 01
Built around the school calendar
Summer strip-and-wax, break-period deep cleaning and back-to-school readiness planned against your actual calendar with a firm completion date.
- 02
Vetted, screened crews
Background screening and site-appropriate conduct standards for anyone assigned to a campus. Confirm current screening requirements with us in writing before award.
- 03
Classroom and high-touch focus
Restrooms, cafeterias, gymnasiums and high-touch surfaces prioritized where illness transmission and parent complaints actually originate.
- 04
Gym and corridor floor programs
Hardwood, VCT and terrazzo maintained on a cycle that fits the athletic and academic calendar.
How does a school's cleaning program work around the academic calendar?
Around a fixed set of windows a school actually has — summer break, winter break, and shorter intersession periods — with deep-cleaning and floor work scheduled to a firm completion date ahead of the first day back, rather than fit in whenever a crew is available.
The academic calendar sets hard deadlines a commercial building never has: a gym floor has to be finished before the first assembly, a classroom has to be ready before the first bell. That means summer strip-and-wax, carpet extraction, and deep-cleaning work gets planned against the district's actual calendar months ahead — not scheduled the week school lets out and hoped to finish in time.
Typical K-12 cleaning windows
Summer break
- Typical scope
- Full strip-and-wax, carpet extraction, deep restroom and cafeteria cleaning
- Deadline driver
- First day of school
Winter break
- Typical scope
- Gym floor refresh, high dusting, corridor floor touch-up
- Deadline driver
- Return from break
Spring/intersession breaks
- Typical scope
- Targeted deep clean, high-traffic area refresh
- Deadline driver
- Next instructional day
During the school year
- Typical scope
- Nightly custodial support, restroom and cafeteria focus
- Deadline driver
- Daily
| Window | Typical scope | Deadline driver |
|---|---|---|
| Summer break | Full strip-and-wax, carpet extraction, deep restroom and cafeteria cleaning | First day of school |
| Winter break | Gym floor refresh, high dusting, corridor floor touch-up | Return from break |
| Spring/intersession breaks | Targeted deep clean, high-traffic area refresh | Next instructional day |
| During the school year | Nightly custodial support, restroom and cafeteria focus | Daily |
Does the Healthy Schools Act apply to routine cleaning products used in a classroom?
No. California's Healthy Schools Act deals with pesticide use at schoolsites: it encourages integrated pest management and carries requirements for annual and per-application notification, posted warning signs, and pesticide-use reporting, with forms from the Department of Pesticide Regulation. Routine cleaning products are outside it.
The Act encourages schools to adopt integrated pest management — "an approach that uses the least toxic, effective method to solve pest problems," in DPR's words — and DPR supplies the notification, warning-sign and use-report forms schools use when a pesticide application does happen. It's a pest-management law, not a general chemical-safety law for mops and disinfectants, and Nexara's cleaning program does not perform pest-control applications.
How should a school select cleaning products, if not through the Healthy Schools Act?
EPA's Safer Choice program is one useful reference: it certifies cleaning and other products whose ingredients are safer for human health and the environment, and it separately lists DfE-certified disinfectants. It supplements a district's own procurement policy rather than replacing it.
Safer Choice certification gives a facilities director a documented, third-party basis for a chemistry decision instead of relying on a manufacturer's own safety claims. Ask any vendor, Nexara included, which certifications a specific product carries before it's approved for classroom or cafeteria use — that verification belongs in the district's own procurement file.
What's the difference between cleaning and disinfecting a classroom, and when is each needed?
CDC guidance distinguishes the two: cleaning with soap and water removes germs and dirt, and in most situations cleaning regularly is enough. Disinfecting kills remaining germs and is called for where someone has been ill, with extra disinfection an option in high-traffic spaces — not a blanket daily requirement for every classroom surface.
- Routine cleaning — soap and water, most classroom and corridor surfaces, most days
- High-touch focus — door handles, stair rails, restroom fixtures and desks cleaned more often, per CDC's list of high-touch surfaces
- Disinfecting after illness — surfaces where someone was visibly sick get disinfected in addition to cleaning
- Outbreak response — follow the direction of the district nurse or local public health office when they issue it
CDC's own framing is that "in most situations, cleaning regularly is enough to prevent the spread of germs" — a useful standard for a district trying to right-size a cleaning contract instead of over-specifying disinfection everywhere.
Which areas of a school get priority in a custodial program?
Restrooms, cafeterias, gymnasiums, and high-touch classroom surfaces get priority scheduling ahead of lower-traffic administrative space — they carry the most daily use, and a missed service there is noticed fastest by staff, students, and families. Day porter services cover the daytime side of that load.
- Restrooms — checked and serviced multiple times per day during instruction, not once at close
- Cafeterias — turned over between meal periods, full deep clean after the last service
- Gymnasiums — floor care matched to the athletic and PE schedule, not just the academic one
- Classrooms — high-touch surfaces (desks, door handles, shared equipment) prioritized within the nightly scope
What screening applies to cleaning crews working on a school campus?
California Education Code section 45125.1 requires any entity contracting with a school district to ensure employees who interact with pupils have a valid criminal records summary from the state's fingerprint-based check, and districts layer their own conduct standards on top. Confirm the screening standard your site requires in writing before a contract is awarded, not after.
What floor care do school gyms and corridors need?
Hardwood gym floors, VCT corridors, and terrazzo entries each need a different maintenance approach, and the cycle for each is set to fit the athletic season and the academic calendar rather than a single generic schedule applied across the whole building.
A hardwood gym floor is maintained differently from VCT in a corridor and differently again from a terrazzo lobby — see floor care for how those systems are scoped and how often to strip and wax commercial floors for setting the VCT cycle. The scheduling question for a school is less about method and more about timing: the work has to land in a break window or after hours, finished before the next practice, game, or class.
What facility managers ask us.
Does the Healthy Schools Act require special cleaning products in classrooms?
No. The Act regulates pesticide use — integrated pest management, notification, posting, and reporting — not routine cleaning or disinfecting products. A district's own procurement policy, and programs like EPA Safer Choice, are the relevant reference for cleaning-chemistry selection, not the Healthy Schools Act.
How far ahead should summer deep cleaning be scheduled?
Well before the break starts. Strip-and-wax, carpet extraction, and deep restroom cleaning during a summer window need a firm start date, a completion date tied to the first day of school, and a plan for what happens if a delay threatens that deadline — not a schedule finalized the week break begins.
Do restrooms need to be checked more than once a day at a school?
Most K-12 restrooms see enough traffic during the instructional day to warrant more than a single end-of-day service — checked and restocked during the day, with a full clean after hours. The exact frequency is set in the scope based on the campus's actual population and schedule.
Is disinfecting required daily in every classroom?
Not according to CDC guidance, which says that in most situations cleaning regularly is enough to prevent the spread of germs. Disinfect where someone has been ill; in high-traffic spaces, disinfecting in addition to cleaning is an option. See cleaning vs. sanitizing vs. disinfecting.
What happens if a break-window deep clean runs behind schedule?
The scope should define an escalation point before the break starts — a check-in date ahead of the deadline where progress is confirmed, so a school finds out about a risk to the completion date with enough runway to adjust, not on the morning students return.
Can one cleaning company handle both nightly janitorial and summer floor work?
Yes — that's the more common model for a district, since it puts the calendar-driven deep-clean work and the daily custodial support under one scope and one point of contact rather than coordinating two separate vendors and two separate schedules against the same academic calendar.
Are gymnasium floors cleaned differently than corridor floors?
Yes. Hardwood gym floors need a maintenance approach suited to sports use and finish type, distinct from VCT in a corridor or terrazzo in an entry lobby. See floor care for how Nexara scopes each floor type separately within one school.
What screening do cleaning crews need to work on a campus?
State law sets the floor: Education Code 45125.1 requires contractors to ensure employees who interact with pupils have a valid criminal records summary from the state's fingerprint-based check. Districts add their own conduct and badge rules. Confirm the exact standard in writing before award; it goes into the scope as a condition of starting work.
Reviewed by Nexara Facility Services · Updated
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