BEH to re-inspect public schools

The Bureau of Environmental Health is re-inspecting several schools after it was discovered sanitation permits were not properly distributed.

Alex Gorman, legal counsel for the Department of Public Health, said BEH informed the Public School System that re-inspections would begin Monday.

“At that time, the schools will be given applications for permits to be completed and returned to BEH,” he said in an e-mail. “PSS is being accommodating and cooperating fully. We expect it to be a straightforward process.”

Last week, BEH manager John Tagabuel said the agency failed to issue permits to 22 public schools.

Under the Commonwealth Environmental Health and Sanitation Act of 2000, a health inspector must visit all schools—public or private, kindergarten through college—and declare the school sanitary before the school is allowed to purchase a permit. Permits are renewed annually.

During inspections, BEH will check for water supply adequacy in quantity and quality; sewage and waste disposal; cleanliness of the facility and premises; protection of equipment and other materials from dirt and contamination; maintenance of equipment; restroom facilities; control and exclusion of insects and rodents; and infectious disease control.

Establishments that do not comply receive a verbal warning or letter, a late penalty fee, and if corrections are not made, a recommendation to the Secretary of Public Health for closure.

BEH did not follow up or enforce the law with school management, although schools are regularly inspected once or twice a year, Tagabuel said.

The issue came to light when Gov. Benigno Fitial asked the Department of Public Health to create a task force that would check the preparedness of the public schools during the island’s extended power outages.

The night before the first day of classes, Fitial signed an executive order delaying the start of four schools—Marianas High School, Kagman Elementary, Oleai Head Start and Koblerville Elementary—after water quality test results were not processed in time for the first day.

Under normal circumstances, BEH can recommend to the Secretary of Public Health to close an establishment, but because there were no permits, the Department of Public Health recommended Fitial use his authority to delay the opening.

Last week, Tagabuel said the situation would be corrected and permits would be distributed.

“I’m not a betting man. However, Sanitary Permit application along with [the] inspection report will be issue[d] to school administrators from this day forward on [an] annual basis,” he said at the time.

Both PSS Education Commissioner Rita Sablan and PSS Board of Education chair Lucy Blanco-Maratita said they were unaware of the lack of permits.