Mentor Public Schools use high-powered disinfectant sprayers to fight flu

MENTOR, Ohio - Nearly 3,000 students go to Mentor High School. Despite the flu hitting northeast Ohio hard, the school nurse’s clinic was empty on Thursday.

Melissa Kirby teaches high school students how to run and operate a preschool. Everyday she cleans with bleach and water.

"One of my jobs as a teacher is breaking that chain of infection," Kirby said.

Head custodian Mike Swider now has a machine in his cleaning arsenal. The electrostatic sprayer sprays a fine mist of disinfectant with enough force to get to hard-to-reach areas.

"We find the machines effective and are buying more for the district," said Jen Skulski with Mentor Public Schools.

It's used in classrooms, bathrooms and locker rooms weekly. It used to take extra staff four hours to disinfect the school. Now one person can do the same job in 45 minutes.

No attendance comparisons have been made.

"I had a 100 percent attendance today," Kirby said.

The maker said the sprayer meets EPA guidelines.  On its website, the company said the active ingredient is PCMX, which is also used in surgical scrubs.

The company said the disinfectant mist is safe, gentle and such a fine mist that even papers left on a table or desk stay dry.

Mentor now has eight of these machines throughout the school system, but they're not cheap, going for several thousand dollars each.