You might already know this; Japanese schools have no janitors or cleaning staff; teachers, administrators and students all clean up their schools.
The following excerpt cites cooperation, responsibility and valued member in a community as benefits of this practice of Souji.
Souji ("honorable cleaning") is a period of about 15 minutes each day when all activities come to a stop, mops and buckets appears and everyone pitches in cleaning up. Often the teachers and principals get on their hands and knees and join students.
Japanese schools don't have any janitors because the students and staff do all the cleaning. Students in elementary school, middle school, and high school sweep the hall floors after lunch and before they go home at the end of the day. They also clean the windows, scrub the toilets and empty the trash cans under the supervision of student leaders. During lunchtime, sometimes donning hairnets, students help serve the meals and clear away dishes.
A member of the Board of Education in a town in Hokkaido told U.S. News and World Report, “Education is not only teaching subjects but also cooperation with others, ethics, a sense of responsibility, and public morality. Doing chores contributes to this. Besides, if students make a mess, they know they have to clean it up. So naturally they try to keep things clean.”
“Cleaning is just one of a web of activities that signal to children that they are valued members of a community,” Christopher Bjork, an educational anthropologist at Vasser Collage told U.S. News and World Report.
I also wanted to share a story. I once worked at one of the most well funded public schools in the Bay Area. My students for the most part lived in a world of nannys, house cleaners, gardeners, and Personal coaches. I was closest with the janitor at the school because our jobs were essentially the same - he cleaned up physical messes and I cleaned up technology messes.
One day I was rushing off to my class, when a mother and her son pointed out that I was spilling the remains of my lunch down the hallway. The mother seeing my haste added, "don't worry about it; the janitor will clean that up." i was personally mortified. And i made a point of cleaning up my own mess in front of the students.
I think a clearly outlined list of each rooms cleaning needs split among all participants in an event could clean our space with very little effort. 15 minutes from 20 people is 5 person-hours of work.
I would be happy to organize such lists and present it at our next meeting. Perhaps these lists already exist. In any event they are a good thing to develop and communicate to George.