Disinfectant foggers clean up school after budget hearing

MADAWASKA, Maine — The Madawaska School Department has enforced the use of a disinfectant fogger spray gun to sanitize and disinfect a large area in a small amount of time. 

One of the two Madawaska School Department-owned foggers was in full use Monday, July 13, to disinfect the seats and general area where audience members sat to participate in voting and discussions, after the school budget hearing .

The devices were purchased from P&E out of Van Buren, according to Paul Chasse, director of school facilities, safety, operations and maintenance for the Madawaska School Department. The $580 foggers are made by Victory Innovations. 

Chasse said the school first used equipment funds already budgeted to purchase a fogger at the beginning of March when administrators and staff heard about the potential coronavirus outbreak. 

“We wanted a solution that would disinfect our entire school not only in a time-efficient manner, but has also been proven to be effective,” Chasse said. “The fogger works by adding a diluted mixture of disinfecting chemicals and then positively charges the liquid to envelop all conductive surfaces — shadowed, vertical and underneath — when sprayed.”

The Madawaska School Department obtained a second fogger in June when the department realized it would need one to help disinfect the buses while doing the summer lunch program. Chasse said the second fogger was covered under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES Act funding. 

Among the other school units involved with Valley Unified, SAD 33 purchased foggers for Dr. Levesque Elementary, Wisdom High School and the St. John Valley Tech Center, and SAD 27 also purchased two.