Winter break is the perfect time for your school to take a step back and prepare your facilities for next semester. Cold weather, heavy foot traffic, and ice melt can leave behind dirt and residue, dull floors, and impact cleanliness. Taking advantage of this downtime to deep clean and recoat floors ensures your school is ready to welcome students and staff back to a bright, clean environment.

Floor Care: Scrub and Recoat for a Fresh Start

Winter floor care is essential to restore your floors after months of wear. Things like ice melt, sand, dirt and debris can damage floor finish. A scrub and recoat helps extend the life of your floors and protects them throughout the rest of the school year.

Why Buckeye Floor Finishes Matter

Buckeye floor finishes are designed to withstand multiple top scrubs and recoats, extending the life of your floors without the need for frequent stripping and refinishing. Other finishes may not be durable enough for this process, meaning these procedures will only be effective if your facility is already using a Buckeye floor finish.

Here’s how you can scrub and recoat your floors:

1. Clear areas that require floor care; remove furniture, debris, and place wet floor signs.
2. Clean and scrub areas using a low-speed machine or auto scrubber with a Buckeye floor cleaner.
3. Rinse thoroughly and remove all solutions.
4. Apply 2 to 3 coats of Buckeye floor finish, allowing time to dry between coats.

Recommended Products:

Buckeye Eco® Floor Cleaner (E32 or E33)

Buckeye Castleguard® or Clarion® 25 Floor Finish

Restroom Care: Time to Shine

Restrooms see continuous use and are a key area for germs and odors. Winter break provides the perfect opportunity to deep clean and refresh these high-traffic spaces. Focus on disinfecting surfaces, replenishing supplies, and removing buildup in hard-to-reach areas to ensure restrooms are fresh and ready for the new semester.

Download the full checklist for detailed restroom cleaning procedures and product recommendations.

Classroom Care: Spring into Action

Before students return, classrooms should be cleaned from top to bottom to create a healthy learning environment. Focus on disinfecting high-touch surfaces and organizing materials to start the semester strong.

Download the checklist to see detailed steps for cleaning classrooms, floors, and common areas.

Mat Maintenance Care

Mats take more than elbow grease. To effectively clean mats, utilize a Buckeye carpet spot remover such as Gone H202. For effective cleaning steps on mats, check out our winter preparation guide: Are Your Floors Ready for Winter?

Other Winter Break Steps

Winter break is also an ideal time to address areas that often go unnoticed during the busy school year. Wiping down windows, cleaning light fixtures, and dusting vents can make a big difference in maintaining a clean, bright environment.

 Find a complete list of additional cleaning tasks in the downloadable winter checklist below.

Make the Most of Winter Break

A fresh start begins with clean, protected floors and disinfected spaces. Buckeye offers resources to help your team maintain high standards throughout the school year.

Our Honors Custodial Training Program gives staff 24/7 access to:

Step-by-step procedures for daily and restorative cleaning

Downloadable charts, testing for your team to review procedures and equipment

24/7 access to reporting and surveys to hand out to your team

Want a Downloadable Winter Cleaning Checklist?

Buckeye offers customizable tools to help keep your school clean and prepared for this upcoming spring semester. From cleaning floors to daily procedures and more check out this downloadable winter checklist for winter break.

International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW) is here again, and it’s the perfect time to recognize the vital work Infection Preventionists (IPs) do every day. Since 1986, IIPW has raised global awareness of the importance of infection prevention in protecting patients, healthcare workers, and communities.

This year’s theme, “Stand UPPP” (Unite, Prevent, Protect, Prevail), emphasizes collective action in the fight against infection. Symmetry is proud to support IPs by developing innovative tools that make hand hygiene easier, more efficient, and effective at reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

Unite

We unite with IPs by raising awareness and making hand hygiene more accessible across facilities. Symmetry’s Touch-Free Dispensers and Green Certified Hand Wash with SMT™ (Skin Moisturizing Technology) support skin health, helping staff, patients, and visitors practice consistent hand hygiene.

SMT is formulated specifically for healthcare professionals. This hand wash is fragrance-free, Green Seal® Certified, and enriched with moisturizing technology that combats dryness caused by frequent handwashing. In a clinical study, Symmetry Green Certified Hand Wash with SMT improved skin hydration by 32.5%, and 86.2% of participants showed an improvement in hand dryness through dermal evaluations.

Paired with our touch-free dispensers, SMT helps facilities strengthen the fight against infections while supporting hand hygiene.

Prevent & Protect

To prevent diseases and help protect IPs and patients, Symmetry provides hand hygiene solutions with Point of Care tools such as:

50 ml Tray Table/W.O.W Clip

50 ml Suction Cup

550 ml Suction Cup

550 ml Wire Bracket

550 ml Anesthesia Cart Bracket

50 ml Lanyard

Prevail

Prevailing against infections involves more than innovative products, it requires behavior change. The Symmetry Behavior Modification System uses behavioral science and visual reminders like posters, placards, and on-dispenser messaging to inspire proper hand hygiene at critical moments.

By combining tools and motivation, Symmetry helps IPs sustain long-term success in infection prevention.

Continued Support

Supporting IPs goes beyond this week. We are committed to nurturing and creating a safer environment year-round by lowering HAIs and advancing infection prevention practices.

Thank you, Infection Preventionists, for all that you do. If you’d like to learn more about how Symmetry can support your facility’s infection prevention goals, contact your local Buckeye representative.

 

Absenteeism can impact student learning and achievement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that more than two-thirds of U.S. students 5-17 years old missed school over a one-year period due to illness or injury.

The Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program fights absenteeism by encouraging students to understand the importance of hand hygiene. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO), hand hygiene is one of the most important steps in reducing the spread of germs. Educating students on hand hygiene with Symmetry can help students fight the spread of germs.

The Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program offers superior hand washes and hand sanitizers alongside tools that encourage students to wash their hands. These tools include product literature, handwashing videos and customizable posters, wall charts, and placards.

Symmetry also offers Hand Hygiene Assemblies as a fun way to engage pre-k to 3rd grade students in hand hygiene. Symmetry Hand Hygiene Assemblies assist teachers in educating their students about good hand hygiene practices. They feature Biscuit the Paw-Washing Dog, Symmetry’s hand hygiene mascot as well as a fun, interactive video. Students learn eye-opening information about germs followed by proper handwashing and hand sanitizing techniques.

When assemblies conclude, students walk away with an I Wash My Hands sticker and a better understanding of when and how to wash their hands. When asked about the effect Symmetry Hand Hygiene Assemblies had on his school, one Elementary School Environmental Health Manager said, “Getting our younger students started early, thinking about washing their hands and fighting the spread of germs will eventually turn into awesome daily habits that will be hard to break.” The Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program helps students form healthy habits that can last a lifetime.

To find out how to schedule a Symmetry Hand Hygiene Assembly at your school or to learn more about the Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program, contact your local Buckeye representative.

Proper hand hygiene is one of the easiest ways to help prevent the spread of germs in schools. A big challenge schools face, though, is how to make learning about proper hand hygiene enjoyable for students. Symmetry Hand Hygiene assemblies are fun, engaging and educational to help students develop lifelong hand hygiene practices. They are designed for students in Pre-K to 3rd grade and feature Biscuit, the Paw-Washing Dog. The assemblies include an interactive video along with germ facts and proper hand washing/hand sanitizing steps.

Symmetry Hand Hygiene assemblies are part of the Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program. The program offers a complete set of customizable education and awareness tools to assist in creating a culture of hand hygiene at your school. You can customize informative education and awareness pieces that focus on the “why” and “how” of proper hand hygiene. There are wall charts, posters, handwashing videos, and product literature available for your school. You can also implement the Symmetry Behavior Modification System (SBMS), which uses behavioral science to drive hand hygiene practices. It incorporates 6 key tenets to inspire hand hygiene compliance including: Benevolence, Accountability, Responsibility, Variation, Emotion, and Direction. The goal of SBMS is to provide tools that capture attention in the moment, driving an immediate hand hygiene event to take place. These resources are designed to help students understand the importance of proper hand hygiene, but also enjoy learning about it. Contact us today to learn about having hand hygiene assemblies at your school!