As stewards of school environments, facility managers and procurement professionals play a crucial role in ensuring the well-being of students, staff, and faculty. The battle against germs and infections is ongoing, especially within educational institutions, which is why it is important for facilities and procurement departments to prioritize hygiene and budget-conscious choices. With the support of Kimberly-Clark Professional,
OMNIA Partners aims to offer practical solutions that add value and simplify decision-making for customers in challenging environments. Keep reading to uncover the hygiene issues plaguing educational systems, and how Kimberly-Clark can provide a safe, effective and budget-friendly solution, available through OMNIA Partners.
Hygiene Challenges Plaguing Schools
Germ Transmission & Financial Strain
Schools are vital to American society, providing a safe environment for children to learn and socialize. However, students, staff and surfaces are all vectors for germ transmission, placing schools under enormous pressure to prevent infections. Illnesses can also place a financial burden on schools that rely on attendance-based funding models or federal money, such as Title 1 funding, if they fail to meet attendance or academic benchmarks.1 For example, the Keller district in Texas estimates a $2.4 million loss for every percentage-point decrease in average daily attendance.2
Academic Disruptions, Staff Shortages & More
Illnesses carry additional burdens such as academic disruption, increased cleaning efforts, staff shortages, and heightened anxiety. Gastro-intestinal illnesses like norovirus can significantly impact educational environments. In February 2024, a norovirus outbreak in an Alabama elementary school caused 773 of the school’s 974 students to be absent, leading to a week-long closure.3 The CDC notes that norovirus outbreaks frequently occur in schools, childcare centers, colleges, and universities. Between 2009-2021, there were 2,063 reported norovirus outbreaks in educational institutions, leading to 116,360 illnesses.5
Norovirus: A Persistent Threat in Education Systems
Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that spreads through contact of an infected individual, causing gastrointestinal illnesses. Preventing its spread involves limiting exposure, practicing good hand hygiene, and increasing surface disinfection efforts. However, these measures can be challenging to implement due to factors like presenteeism, lack of hand hygiene facilities, and insufficient knowledge or resources for effective surface disinfection.
Presenteeism: Sick children and staff may attend school due to lack of childcare or paid leave options.10, 11 There may also be a lack of understanding from parents or caregivers regarding when to keep a child home.11
Hand Hygiene: Not every classroom is equipped with a sink and hand-washing supplies, and bathroom access is often controlled. Schools may struggle to restock supplies regularly or face poor behavior in restrooms that cause outages of key hygiene supplies. Hand washing is crucial in the fight against norovirus, as hand sanitizer is not approved by the FDA to kill it. 9, 12
Surface Disinfection: Increasing surface disinfection efforts can be difficult due to the overwhelming number of disinfectants available and their varying costs. Many decision-makers may not realize that some germs, like norovirus, are harder to kill than others.13 Effective disinfectants for tougher germs can be expensive or require special protective equipment, which may not be feasible for schools. Additionally, schools often rely on parent donations for disinfectant wipes, which may not always be effective or safe. Many
consumer wipes require thorough hand washing or gloves after use, posing further challenges for schools.
Want to uncover more? Check out Kimberly-Clark Professional's brand-new whitepaper to take a deep dive into the hygiene and illness challenges facility managers and procurement departments struggle with and learn how WypAll® Disinfectant Wipes offer an innovative budget- and environment-friendly solution, available through OMNIA Partners.
WypAll® Disinfectant Wipes: Good for People, Planet and Pocketbook
Facilities and procurement play a vital role in maintaining clean and healthy educational environments. Their role isn't just about sourcing supplies; it's about supporting a culture where students, teachers and staff feel safe, comfortable and motivated to learn and work. Thus, strategic procurement decisions that prioritize hygiene and budget-conscious choices receive high remarks. That's why Kimberly-Clark Professional is helping to address their needs with WypAll® Disinfectant Wipes. WypAll® Disinfectant Wipes offer a solution that balances efficacy, safety, and affordability, helping facility managers maintain a clean and safe environment for students and staff.
WypAll® Disinfectant Wipes offer effective germ-killing power, eliminating norovirus in just 3 minutes, while also being budget friendly. Made with biodegradable hydrogen peroxide, they achieve the EPA’s lowest toxicity level (Category IV) and are recyclable through Kimberly-Clark Professional’s RightCycle program, reducing the environmental impact.
These wipes provide an affordable, low-toxicity solution for schools, ensuring the health and well-being of students, teachers and staff. By effectively addressing prevalent germs like norovirus, WypAll® Disinfectant Wipes help minimize illness-related disruptions, support consistent attendance, and contribute to a healthier learning environment. Kimberly-Clark Professional believes schools deserve access to effective and safe disinfectants to combat the unique challenges they face. With the support of a cooperative organization like OMNIA Partners, schools can piggyback their preferred distributor's cooperative contract to secure quality hygiene solutions from Kimberly-Clark Professional, including WypAll® Disinfectant Wipes.
Curious to learn more about WypAll® Disinfectant Wipes and how to purchase them through OMNIA Partners? Click the button below to contact a dedicated Kimberly-Clark account manager.
About OMNIA Partners & Kimberly-Clark Professional
Kimberly-Clark Professional partners with you to create exceptional workplaces, making them healthier, safer and more productive. We create full-service solutions tailored to your needs and leverage our unmatched portfolio of trusted brands to elevate the way people experience your business and what it stands for. Kimberly-Clark Professional products are available to participants of OMNIA Partners through your favorite distributor's contract. Kimberly-Clark Professional brands include Kleenex®, Scott®, Cottonelle®, WypAll®, Kimtech™, and KleenGuard®. To view the entire OMNIA Partners contract portfolio, click here. Not a participant? Become one today!
1. Do Schools Lose Money When Students Are Absent? - Truth in American Education
2. Why Chronic Absenteeism Is a Budget Problem, Too (illinois.edu)
3. Gastrointestinal disease explodes in Ala. elementary school; 773 kids out | Ars Technica
5. National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) Dashboard | CDC
9. Barclay L, Park GW, Vega E, Hall A, Parashar U, Vinjé J, Lopman B. “Infection control for norovirus,” Clin Microbiol Infect. 2014 Aug; 20(8):731-40. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4624335/
10. The Working Parents' Guide to Dealing with Sick Kids - Today's Parent (todaysparent.com)
11. Poll Shows Why Sick Kids Don’t Stay Home From School (parents.com)
12. https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/about/prevention.html
13. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-10/documents/rutala_overview_of_current_disinfection_hierarchy_models_final.pdf