Despite online learning this fall, LAUSD rolling out rigorous cleaning practices at all campuses
HIGHLAND PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Most students will be starting the new school year online but a lot needs to be done on campuses to ensure students are safe when they eventually return to classrooms.
At Luther Burbank Middle School in Highland Park, the Los Angeles Unified School District is rolling out some new cleaning technology to ensure everything is COVID compliant.
Although the hallways will be empty, Superintendent Austin Beutner also wants to keep everyone safe, including staff and faculty that are still working.
"We have electrostatically cleaned, top to bottom, the school," he said. "By that I mean, you ionize what's in effect Lysol, so that it sticks to every surface."
The district has a long list of changes for every campus -- from new signs to new air filters which are the equivalent of an N95 mask, as well changing the entire air system to separate the airflow from the air conditioning.
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"Really, a lot of these, not only big particles that come out of someone's mouth during a cough or sneeze, but really small particles that could hang in the air for hours," said Kris Howard with Madison Industry.
The sanitizing practices will be improved and tweaked over time, Beutner said, so that limiting the spread of COVID-19 in schools is effective.
The superintendent says the numbers clearly show it's not safe to return to class and doesn't know when it will be but says they need to start preparing now.
"This is all informed by science and practice that we've looked at other schools districts, not just in California, across the nation, but around the world. We see new things everyday and we want to make sure that's incorporated in what we do at schools," Beutner said.
All these cleaning practices will be in place at all campuses district wide even though school for LAUSD students will begin remotely later this month.
