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Government Failing to Address “High-Risk Safety” Problems at Native American Schools

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The Bureau of Indian Affairs is shirking its responsibilities to protect schools for roughly 50,000 indigenous American students, a federal watchdog reported on Friday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that Indian Affairs inspectors last year failed to conduct reviews at 69 of the 180 agency-run schools, in defiance of federal policy that requires all facilities to be inspected annually.

“As a result, Indian Affairs cannot effectively determine the magnitude and severity of safety and health deficiencies at schools,” GAO stated.

The oversight agency’s own inspectors examined sixteen schools, finding a number “high-risk safety and health deficiencies” that had been previously reported, but unaddressed. The schools, which receive either direct funding or grants from Indian Affairs for operation and maintenance, are required to fix high-risk faults within one to fifteen days.

“The federal government, through the Department of the Interior, has a trust responsibility for the education of Indian students, which includes ensuring that school facilities provide safe and healthy environments for students,” GAO noted. However, the office found serious problems at schools that “recurred, or repeated, from one year to the next.” That included “inoperable fire alarm and sprinkler systems, exposed electrical wires, broken windows, and exterior doors that did not close properly.”

At one school reviewed, the watchdog discovered four aging boilers that had failed inspection “due to elevated levels of carbon monoxide,” which could “cause poisoning where there is exposure, and a natural gas leak, which can pose an explosion hazard.”

According to the report, one of the largest schools run by the Bureau of Indian Education–one that enrolls 630 students–has not been inspected since 2011.

Bureau interviewed by GAO claimed that reviews were hindered due to unfilled safety inspector positions. In one administrative region, the lone inspector job was left vacant for about ten years. Other regions reported job openings lasting more than five years.

GAO also pointed to poor training tools at the bureau, noting that a “handbook” for safety auditors “lacks comprehensive procedures on how school inspections should be conducted.”

Officials at one facility relayed to the watchdog a 2011 story, when an inspector conducted the entire review “from his car,” neglecting to look inside the school’s 34 buildings.

The oversight problems only appear to be worsening, too. In 2012, 31 percent of schools under the purview of Indian Affairs weren’t examined by the agency. In 2014 and 2015, that number was respectively at 37 and 38 percent.

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