The first day of school is almost here! If students are returning next week, your facility needs more than a quick sweep and a fresh trash-liner change.
You need a complete reset.
Classrooms, daycares, restrooms, hallways, carpets, hard floors, offices, and shared spaces should all be ready for heavy traffic from day one. A clean facility creates confidence for families, supports your staff, and gives students a bright, welcoming place to learn.
At Keeping it Kleen Janitorial Services, we help schools, daycares, colleges, and large facilities prepare for a successful school year. With 15 years of industry experience, seven consecutive quality and consistency awards, and full-service capabilities, we are ready to help you get your facility KLEEN, CLEAN, AND SCHOOL-READY!
Start With a Facility Walkthrough
Before cleaning begins, walk through the entire property with your facility team. Look for areas that need special attention.
Create a room-by-room plan for:
- Classrooms and daycare learning spaces
- Restrooms and changing areas
- Hallways, entrances, and stairwells
- Carpets, rugs, and floor mats
- Hard floors that need scrubbing, stripping, or waxing
- Cafeterias, kitchens, and break areas
- Gyms, locker rooms, theaters, and auditoriums
- Offices, staff rooms, and storage areas
- Outdoor walkways, playgrounds, and building entrances
A walkthrough helps you identify priorities before your timeline becomes even tighter. It also makes it easier to coordinate floor care, carpet cleaning, repairs, supply restocking, and final inspections.
Do not wait until the last minute! Specialty services such as carpet extraction and floor stripping and waxing need time for drying, curing, and safe reoccupation.
Contact the Keeping it Kleen team for a facility walkthrough or quote.
Classroom Deep-Clean Checklist
Classrooms collect dust, fingerprints, crumbs, allergens, and germs throughout the year. Your back-to-school deep clean should reach beyond the obvious surfaces.
Complete these classroom tasks:
- Remove outdated posters, decorations, notices, and end-of-year materials.
- Empty cubbies, shelves, cabinets, and storage bins before cleaning.
- Dust ceiling corners, vents, light fixtures, fans, and the tops of cabinets.
- Wipe desks, chairs, tables, shelves, bookcases, and teacher workstations.
- Clean the fronts, sides, and undersides of desks and chairs.
- Wipe whiteboards, chalkboards, trays, and classroom display surfaces.
- Clean electronics carefully with products appropriate for screens and devices.
- Disinfect door handles, light switches, cabinet pulls, pencil sharpeners, and railings.
- Clean windows, sills, frames, blinds, and shades.
- Wipe walls, baseboards, doors, and areas with visible scuff marks.
- Vacuum carpet edges and clean underneath and behind furniture.
- Empty, wash, and disinfect classroom trash and recycling bins.
For daycares and early childhood rooms, add extra attention to toys, nap mats, cribs, cots, changing tables, high chairs, soft seating, and play equipment.
Toys that are mouthed or handled frequently should be cleaned and sanitized according to your facility’s policies and product labels. Soft toys, blankets, dress-up clothes, and cushion covers may need laundering before children return.
Restroom and Changing Area Checklist
Restrooms are among the most important areas in any school, daycare, college, or public facility. They must look clean, smell fresh, and function properly.
Deep-clean every restroom by checking off the following:
- Clean and disinfect toilets, urinals, seats, hinges, bases, and surrounding floors.
- Scrub sinks, faucets, counters, backsplash areas, and handles.
- Clean mirrors and remove streaks, splashes, and buildup.
- Disinfect stall doors, locks, partitions, grab bars, and push plates.
- Wipe soap dispensers, paper towel dispensers, hand dryers, and other touchpoints.
- Scrub floor edges, grout lines, corners, and floor-to-wall joints.
- Clean floor drains and remove visible debris.
- Wash restroom walls and doors where fingerprints or residue have collected.
- Dust and clean exhaust fan covers and ventilation grilles.
- Confirm that toilets flush, faucets work, and drains empty properly.
- Restock toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, sanitizer, and other essentials.
- Check that every dispenser is secure, functional, and easy to use.
Daycare changing areas deserve an additional detailed inspection. Disinfect changing tables, pads, rails, diaper storage, nearby shelves, and all frequently touched surfaces.
A spotless restroom tells parents, students, staff, and visitors that cleanliness is your TOP PRIORITY!
Carpet Cleaning Checklist
Vacuuming is important. However, vacuuming alone cannot remove everything that settles into carpet fibers during a full school year.
Classrooms, reading areas, daycare rooms, offices, theaters, dorms, and hallways can hold dust, soil, stains, crumbs, and allergens deep below the surface.
Before students arrive:
- Move furniture so the carpet can be cleaned evenly.
- Vacuum slowly, including edges and corners.
- Identify stains and high-traffic areas.
- Pre-treat spots with products appropriate for the carpet.
- Schedule professional carpet extraction or deep cleaning.
- Clean entry mats and rugs that collect outdoor dirt.
- Allow carpets to dry completely before rooms are occupied.
- Ventilate the space to reduce moisture and lingering odors.
- Replace or reposition furniture only after the carpet is dry.
Professional carpet cleaning can help rejuvenate tired-looking spaces and improve the overall appearance of your facility. It also gives your classrooms and common areas a fresher starting point for the new school year.
Hard Floor Care: Scrub, Strip, Wax, and Shine!
Hard floors take a beating from daily foot traffic, rolling equipment, spills, outdoor soil, and tracked-in moisture. A routine mop may remove surface dirt, but it will not restore an old, worn finish.
If your floors look dull, gray, scuffed, or uneven, it may be time for professional stripping and waxing.
Your floor-care checklist:
- Sweep or vacuum floors before wet cleaning.
- Identify the floor type and its maintenance requirements.
- Scrub tile, vinyl, resilient flooring, and other hard surfaces.
- Detail corners, edges, thresholds, and areas beneath fixtures.
- Remove old finish where appropriate.
- Strip away embedded soil, worn wax, and uneven layers.
- Pick up floor-stripping solution and rinse thoroughly.
- Allow the floor to dry completely.
- Apply professional floor finish in thin, even coats.
- Allow proper drying and curing time between coats.
- Buff or burnish the finished floor when appropriate.
- Block off the area until the surface is safe for foot traffic.
A professional floor finish helps protect the flooring underneath. It can also make routine maintenance easier and improve the appearance of hallways, classrooms, cafeterias, offices, and entrances.
SHINE BRIGHT, WALK RIGHT! The Kleen Team knows how to wipe away wear and bring tired floors back to life!
Common Areas, Offices, and Specialty Spaces
Students and staff do not spend all day inside classrooms. Shared spaces need the same level of attention.
Include these areas in your plan:
- Clean hallways, stairwells, lobbies, and entryways.
- Disinfect handrails, door handles, push plates, and drinking fountains.
- Clean lockers, cubbies, benches, and shared storage.
- Wipe cafeteria tables, chairs, serving counters, and food-service surfaces.
- Deep clean kitchen floors, sinks, drains, and high-touch equipment.
- Clean gym floors, athletic equipment, bleachers, and locker rooms.
- Scrub showers, drains, benches, partitions, and changing areas.
- Detail nurse’s offices, examination surfaces, cots, and storage.
- Clean auditorium seating, aisles, stages, backstage areas, and dressing rooms.
- Wipe office desks, phones, copiers, printers, conference tables, and shared equipment.
- Remove cobwebs and dust from high corners, light fixtures, and ceiling areas.
- Clean interior windows, entry glass, doors, and mats.
For colleges and larger campuses, divide the work by building or zone. This makes it easier to prioritize dorms, lecture halls, student centers, athletic facilities, libraries, and administrative buildings.
Do Not Forget the Exterior
The outside of your facility is the first thing families, students, employees, and visitors see.
Before opening day, inspect:
- Sidewalks and entrance areas
- Building facades
- Outdoor signs
- Entry awnings
- Playground surfaces and equipment
- Dumpster areas
- Loading zones
- Parking-lot walkways
- Exterior doors and glass
Pressure washing can help wipe away dirt, stains, algae, and buildup from high-visibility exterior surfaces.
Air Quality, Supplies, and Final Checks
Cleaning should be coordinated with your building’s maintenance team. Before the first bell, confirm that vents, fans, filters, and other building systems have been inspected and serviced as needed.
The CDC provides ventilation and air-cleanliness guidance, while the EPA Safer Choice program provides information about products designed to meet safety and performance standards.
Your final readiness checklist should include:
- Replace or inspect HVAC filters according to your maintenance plan.
- Dust vents, diffusers, fans, and high surfaces.
- Confirm restroom exhaust fans are operating.
- Clean light fixtures and replace burned-out bulbs.
- Restock soap, paper towels, toilet paper, liners, gloves, and cleaning supplies.
- Confirm dispensers work correctly.
- Review daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning schedules.
- Verify that classrooms and shared spaces are ready for occupancy.
- Complete a final facility walkthrough with administrators or managers.
- Document any remaining repairs or service needs.
Why Schools Choose the Kleen Team
Back-to-school preparation is a major job. You should not have to coordinate five different vendors to handle it.
Keeping it Kleen is your ONE-STOP SHOP for comprehensive cleaning solutions!
Our services include:
- Professional floor shine, stripping, and waxing
- Classroom and office space cleaning
- Bathroom renovation and deep cleaning
- Carpet cleaning
- Pressure washing
- Residential and commercial cleaning solutions
We are family-owned and operated, and we treat every facility with personal care. From a small daycare to a large campus, NO JOB IS TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL FOR THE KLEEN TEAM!
For 15 years, we have served customers with a commitment to dependable, professional results. We are proud of our seven-year record of quality and consistency awards.
Our customers notice the difference, too!
“Never disappointed… two years later they are still my go-to company for all outsourced cleaning.” , David B., Cinema Cafe Manager
“If you’re looking for great work at a great price, please don’t hesitate to call.” : Tasha M., Office Owner
That is the kind of reliable partnership we strive to provide for your school, daycare, college, or facility!
Students Return Next Week: Schedule Your Walkthrough Now!
Time is short, but your cleaning plan does not have to be complicated.
Let Keeping it Kleen create a practical back-to-school cleaning plan for your facility. We will assess your priorities, identify the services you need, and provide a quote for the work.
READY FOR A FRESH START? READY TO REJUVENATE YOUR FACILITY?
Request your free facility walkthrough or cleaning quote today!
Call 757-991-1487 to speak with the Kleen Team!
KEEP IT KLEEN. START THE SCHOOL YEAR CLEAN!
Our team is ready to help you wipe away the old, welcome students with confidence, and satisfy your highest standards: one clean space at a time!