TUCSON, Ariz. — A Southern Arizona school district is using a unique method to better sanitize the classroom daily.
Santa Cruz Valley School District bought six Power Breezers that will disinfect a classroom in 20 minutes.
Superintendent David Verdugo said the school district did this as a cost effective way to provide extra safety and security to students and staff.
He said it will be used after school to clean empty classrooms, hallways and even school buses.
Each unit costs about 4,500 dollars.
"This is an opportunity for them to look at a way to sanitize a room in a short period of time and utilize their staff but also be cost effective," Superintendent Verdugo said.
He said the district is also requiring all students to wear masks, have their temperature checked, and social distance in and out of the classroom.
Every classroom will only be at 50% capacity, meaning 15 desks per room, he said. In order to do this, the district came up with a hybrid approach to learning.
"There will be a group A and a group B," Superintendent Verdugo said. "The group A students will be on Monday. They will come to school, have their direct instruction and then they will be at home the next day. Then, group B will come to school, but they will still have some interaction that day with assignments and virtual opportunities."
He said the district is planning on starting remote learning on August 3 and then the hybrid approach will being on August 31.
