March 1 - Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools

Austin Neff got sick, along with 133 others in Silver Lake, Ks. in what the state linked to poor hygiene inthe school kitchen.“It was horrible,” Austin’s mother Missy Neff said.“Uh, pretty bad,” says Silver Lake Elementary student Jessica Williams describing her bout with diarrheaand vomiting.“She was out of school seven to 10 days,” her mother Kim Williams said.A state investigation linked the Norovirus outbreak to mishandled school menu items.“That's why we consider it an imminent health hazard,” Naser Jourhari with the Kansas City HealthDepartment said about critical health code violations.Our open records search of metro school inspections found multiple instances of workers who didn't washtheir hands, kitchens without standard hot water, mice, roaches, unclean cooking surfaces, and otherviolations that could lead to food borne illnesses.“We take these violations very seriously,” Jouhari said.Over a two-year-period his KCMO inspectors shut down the six following schools for health codeviolations:• Warford Elementary School• Attucks Elementary School• Border Star New Montesorri School• Whittier Elementary School• George Washington Carver Elementary• St. Monica SchoolSome Violators Can Remain OpenGenerally kitchens are allowed to stay open if they acknowledge a violation and fix it on the spot.An employee who doesn’t wash, for example is written up, but allowed to return to work afterdemonstrating he’s properly cleaned his hands.It’s only when the health violations can’t be fixed immediately by kitchen staff --- like broken waterheaters, or backed up drains --- that inspectors shut it down.Our open records search of metro inspections in 2007 and '08 identified about 50 problem school kitcheninspections.The following schools were the subject of state corrective action, had five or more critical violations