Look, out of the windows! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s the window cleaner guys! At the beginning of the school year, students marveled out the big front windows for reasons other than the scenery. Outside, men on suspended wires were scrubbing the glass clean with long brushes. The window cleaners became mini-celebrities during their time at North Atlanta, having to endure some paparazzi from intrigued students.

Washing the entirety of an 11-story building’s windows is no small feat, and some would even say that it’s quite a pane in the glass. The small group of three to four cleaners had to overcome the obvious height obstacle as well as not being able to clean the windows of classrooms while they were in use. For this reason, the cleaners had to come in during the summer, the evenings, and even throughout some weekends to complete the job. According to North Atlanta’s building operations manager Jason Bross, the whole task was slower than expected. “It took about four weeks, which was longer than planned because they had to work around the school,” Bross said.

North Atlanta was able to acquire the window washers through a bid system. Bross explained that whenever APS has a maintenance project at this level, they put out a bid for different companies. The Southeastern Window Cleaning company that received the bid then hired the workers who came to the school to clean the windows.

During transitions, students were able to witness the window cleaning process, and some even stopped to take pictures of the unusual sight. Some were drawn in by the daring way in which they were hanging from the wires, and others were just surprised that such parts of the building were even being tended to. Senior Maddie Peckham is both the former and the latter. “This is the very first time I’ve seen the outside of the school cleaned,” she said. “Washing windows is hard enough, but during the day at a school must be pretty awkward, especially since we all have phones and the ability to take pictures.”

Thanks to the team of lean mean window cleaning machines, North Atlanta’s windows are spotless and ready for the new school year.