By: Diane Benjamin
I’ve never understood the logic of scheduling an inspection if the intent is to see what it really happening. Is the real reason to show complete compliance instead of reality?
The email below is from the principal of BHS to all staff. It was received by FOIA.
“ROE Inspection” is Regional Office of Education. The inspections are required by state statute and Illinois administrative code. https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/sfm/About/Divisions/Fire-Prevention-and-Building-Safety/Pages/School-Inspection-Program.aspx
The law was meant to keep kids safe. I bet BHS passed, potential violations got a temporary fix.
How long was it before all of the items mentioned returned? Note the importance: High.
This is just another example of lawmakers wanting to make sure kids are safe and then a program is developed that does nothing but cost taxpayers money. It appears that beginning in 2016 these inspections are done by local fire departments. Do local businesses get an inspection warning or just schools?
From my past experiences working in a field where state inspections were fairly regular occurrences, you do indeed know exactly or at least REAL close to the day “they” are coming. Oh they are supposed to be “surprise” or “random” but they aren’t, in factthey even generally occur around the same time every month/quarter/year etc. I am a veteran of getting everything “up to snuff” JUST before an inspection. I can understand the need for periodic inspections because some places really are just a total mess, but it becomes a bit of a dog and pony show when the facilities know when they are going to be inspected – on the positive side, at least during the inspection times/periods things are usually in good order. On a personal level, the things that seem important to the inspectors are sometimes not so important, or as they say “if it wasn’t documented, it wasn’t done” when in reality if one’s time is spent constantly documenting and crossing Ts and filling in forms very little else is actually getting done. So in short – YES places nearly always know when the inspectors are coming, sometimes they have plenty of time like a week or more but now and then they only have like a day to get stuff up to the mark. The exception is when there have been valid complaints for gross infractions that should be seen to and corrected immediately and then an inspector can just show up out of the blue so to speak.
I encountered this in the private sector as well. When the regional VP was coming, the local manager spent countless hours of overtime, cleaning, painting, hiding stuff. First, why would you want the place to look like no one worked there, just because some guy who has never worked in a shop in his life is coming? Second, to the poster above. The fact that you knew things were wrong, and did nothing about them until an inspector was coming is just shameful.
Local city inspector showed up at our office without notice, but gave us 30 days to fix problems and returned to ensure they were corrected. They made a comment that they would return next year. For schools, at least they are taking a look at safety issues even if they give them notice.
Yes petty infractions are always given time to be corrected which is fair to the facility/business.
Is this from the hard drinking leader of the ROE?
principal