School cleaning checklist
A school changes use several times a day. Classrooms fill at 8:30, the cafeteria takes over at noon, and the gym and after-school programs run until the custodian locks up. This checklist follows that day, then the school year, with a line for everything a head custodian or a cleaning contractor gets scored on.
School cleaning has a vocabulary of its own. Custodians do the work, a head custodian or a district facilities supervisor inspects it, and the district usually sets the chemicals and the spill procedures. The checklist uses those roles. Every line is written as a condition an inspector can see, so a day custodian and a night custodian working the same building are held to exactly the same list.
Score the areas separately. Washrooms and the cafeteria draw a large share of the complaints from parents and staff, and a clean classroom wing should not average away a washroom that failed.
Main Entrance and Office
- Entry doors, push bars and glass free of hand marks at child height and adult height
- Walk-off mats vacuumed and lifted, grit removed from underneath
- Office counter, sign-in station and pen cup wiped
- Health room cot, pillow cover and counter cleaned and disinfected, bin emptied
- Visitor seating and display cases dusted
Classrooms
- Student desk tops and chair backs wiped, no marker or glue residue
- Floor swept or vacuumed under desks and along the coat hooks
- Whiteboard trays and ledges clear of marker dust
- Classroom sink and drinking fountain wiped, no film or gum
- Shavings and paper scraps under the pencil sharpener cleared
- Door handles and light switches wiped
- Waste and recycling emptied, liners replaced
- Carpet reading area vacuumed, no crumbs from snack time
Washrooms
- Toilets, urinals and the floor seam around each fixture clean
- Partitions and doors free of graffiti, anything new reported before removal
- Low sinks and child-height fixtures cleaned to the same standard as adult fixtures
- Soap, paper towel and toilet paper dispensers stocked
- Floor drains flushed, no odour at the door
- Mirrors and wall tile at splash height clean
Gymnasium and Change Rooms
- Gym floor dust mopped, no grit left to scratch the finish
- Under the bleachers swept, wrappers and bottles cleared
- Change room benches, lockers and showers cleaned
- Mats and shared PE equipment wiped at the touch surfaces
- Drinking fountain in the gym corridor descaled
Cafeteria
- Tables and bench seats wiped on top and along the underside edge, no dried food
- Floor swept and mopped under the tables, no spilled milk left to dry
- Garbage, compost and recycling stations emptied and wiped
- Walls spot-cleaned at table height
- Serving line sneeze guard wiped where it falls in custodial scope
Corridors and Stairwells
- Corridor floors dust mopped and auto-scrubbed, no black heel marks
- Locker fronts wiped, locker tops free of dust
- Stair treads, nosings and handrails wiped full length
- Drinking fountains and bottle fillers clean
- Trophy cases and display glass free of hand marks
General checks (site-wide)
- Bodily fluid clean-ups, broken glass and sharps handled with the district's spill kit procedure
- Chemicals stored in the locked custodial closet, out of reach of students
- No ladder, cart or bucket left unattended in a student area during school hours
- Damage, vandalism, leaks and burned-out lights reported to the head custodian the same shift
- Previous inspection deficiencies verified as fixed before new items are logged
- Service recorded with date, time and the name of the custodian on shift
How often to inspect
| Daily | Washrooms, classrooms, cafeteria after each lunch sitting, entrances, drinking fountains, high-touch points |
| Weekly | Corridor auto-scrub, gym floor damp mop, locker tops, desk and chair detail, interior glass |
| Monthly | High dusting, vents and diffusers, under the bleachers, stairwell detail |
| Seasonal | Flu and stomach bug season: a second touchpoint pass midday. Summer: strip and refinish hard floors, carpet extraction, empty and clean every classroom, windows |
What inspectors actually check in a school
Surfaces at child height
Pass: door push plates, low sinks, fountains and the lower half of every entry door are as clean as the surfaces at adult eye level. Fail: an entry door that is clean from the handle up and covered in hand marks below it. Adults inspect at their own eye level. Crouch once in every classroom and washroom.
The underside edge of cafeteria tables
Pass: table tops, bench seats and the lip under each table edge are free of dried food. Fail: a clean table top with a line of dried milk and cereal along the edge, where children grab it to stand up. Run a hand along it.
Washroom partitions and floor drains
Pass: partitions are free of new graffiti, the floor drain has been flushed, and there is no odour at the door. Fail: fresh graffiti painted over before the office saw it, or a dry drain trap letting sewer smell back into a room where every fixture is clean. Report graffiti first, then remove it.
Grit on the gym floor
Pass: the gym floor is dust mopped with no grit, and the floor under the bleachers is swept. Fail: fine grit tracked in from the field, which acts like sandpaper on the floor finish every time a class runs across it.
The school year is the real schedule
The daily list stays the same all year. Everything around it changes. September brings a building that was deep cleaned over the summer and is about to take its heaviest traffic of the year. Winter adds salt and slush at every entrance, so the walk-off mats need lifting and the entrance floors need a neutral cleaner that takes the salt residue off before it dulls the finish. Flu and stomach bug season, roughly October to March in most of North America, is when a second midday pass on door handles, fountains and washroom touchpoints earns its time.
Summer is the big one. With students gone, custodial teams strip and refinish hard floors, extract carpets, empty and clean every classroom, and wash windows. Book the floor work first, since the finish needs time to cure before furniture goes back in, and inspect every classroom against the checklist before teachers return in late August.
For the washroom standard in more detail, use the restroom cleaning checklist. Change rooms and weight rooms get their own treatment in the gym cleaning checklist, and the general commercial cleaning inspection checklist covers the administrative wing.
Common questions
How often should classrooms be cleaned?
Daily for floors, waste, desk tops, door handles, sinks and fountains. Weekly for desk and chair detail and interior glass. Monthly for high dusting and vents. During flu season, add a midday pass on high-touch points in the busiest wings.
What gets done during summer cleaning at a school?
The work that cannot happen with students in the building: stripping and refinishing hard floors, carpet extraction, emptying and cleaning every classroom, washing windows, and deep cleaning washrooms and change rooms. Schedule the floor refinishing first so the finish has time to cure before furniture moves back in.
Should custodians disinfect desks every day?
Clean them every day. Disinfecting high-touch surfaces makes the most difference during illness outbreaks, and the school district or local public health authority usually decides when to step it up. Use only the products the district approves, and follow each label's contact time.
Who inspects custodial work in a school?
Usually the head custodian day to day, with a district facilities supervisor running scheduled inspections across buildings. Where cleaning is contracted out, the contractor should inspect its own work on a cadence and send the results to the school, and the district should still run its own spot checks.
Do I need to give an email address to download the PDF?
No. The download is a direct link with no form. Print it, add the school's name, and use it on your rounds.