Custodian Brandon Gauthier uses a disinfectant sprayer while cleaning a science classroom Tuesday at Lewiston High School. Gauthier is a custodian at Montello Elementary School, but came over to LHS to help get the school ready for students to return on Thursday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Lewiston High School has been “deep cleaned from top to bottom.”

Because of COVID-19 concerns, the school was closed to in-person classes following Friday’s school day.

While students have been learning remotely from home, custodians took advantage of an empty building and deep cleaned “floors, to door knobs, to desks,” said facilities supervisor Raymond Roy.

Nineteen custodians from throughout the Lewiston school district came in Saturday to prepare the school for the return of students on Thursday.

Seven of those custodians wore electrostatic backpack sprayers as they disinfected surfaces throughout the building. The disinfectant kills the coronavirus within three minutes of contact, said facilities director Josh Breau. The disinfectant then evaporates, said Breau.

Brandon Gauthier, a custodian from Montello Elementary School who came over to help out at LHS, said that he had heard numerous comments about how he looked like a Ghostbuster while wearing the backpack. “We even started singing the (Ghostbuster) song after a while,” said Gauthier.

Both LHS and Edward Little High School in Auburn went to fully remote learning this week after COVID-19 outbreaks were reported on Friday.

Lewiston Schools Superintendent Jake Langlais said the decision was made to go to fully remote after three positive COVID cases within 12 days were linked to the high school.

Mathematics teacher David Boucher grades pre-calculous and statistics homework in between remote sessions with his students at Lewiston High School on Tuesday. Boucher’s students return to two-days-per-week of in-person learning on Thursday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Langlais said that the CDC did not suggest that the school should be closed, but “keeping the school open was not the right choice for our facilities and our staff.”

Teachers were back in the building on Tuesday reaching out to students through Zoom and Google Classroom.

Mathematics teacher David Boucher graded precalculus and statistics homework in between remote sessions with his students. Boucher said that because he teaches advanced math to upper class students, online attendance has been good, but could be better. There are a couple of his students that miss a remote class that would not miss otherwise, said Boucher.

Breau said that the supply chain of cleaning products has been a challenge. Breau said staying on top of spray trigger shortages, to latex gloves, to touch-free paper towel dispenser shortages has been a “marathon.”

“It’s been brutal getting in everything that we need,” Breau said. “Somehow, some way, we got what we need.”

Lewiston High School students return on Thursday. Edward Little High School students will be back in the classroom next Monday.