Glenpool Public Schools Deep Cleaning Elementary Schools After Rise In COVID-19 Cases

All Glenpool elementary students are learning from home this week after the district said a rise in COVID-19 cases among kids and staff forced them to switch to distance learning.

Custodians like Kimie Narvaez deep clean the bathrooms at Glenpool schools every single day.

"I just, you know, wanna try my best because I think if you can keep them cleaner than you know, that way nobody else gets sick,” Narvaez said.

On Monday, everything else at the Lower and Upper elementary buildings was cleaned, too. That includes every inch of the tables in the cafeteria. Even the walls are getting attention.

"It's spreading more rapidly than last year,” Glenpool Public Schools Superintendent Curtis Layton said.

Layton said about half of the students and staff at the two elementary buildings were put on quarantine last week.

“Within a week saw our positive cases go from 6 to 36 in our lower elementary pre-k-4."

He said a special chemical is sprayed in each classroom in an attempt to get rid of every germ. After all the surfaces are wiped down, including desks, lockers and chairs, it is time to move on to the next classroom.

Some teachers are still in their classrooms, meeting with their students virtually.

Alice Gregory usually has 20 kindergartners in the room with her, but Monday she went over the alphabet with them through a screen.

"Been doing something called ABC bootcamp. So we can learn all these quickly,” she said.

While the learning continues, so does the cleaning, as staff gets ready for a return to the classroom next Tuesday.

"I am very confident in our staff and what they have done and what they are doing to make sure when kids come back, the buildings are gonna be super, super clean,” Layton said.

All other school sites in the district remain open for in-person learning.