OPINION: Certified ISO auditor is flabbergasted by LW School District remodernization practices

"Certified ISO auditor is flabbergasted by remodernization practices of LW School District," By Grayling Gentry

OPINION:  For the purpose of public safety, the FDA holds medical device manufacturers accountable for each tiniest component of every device, conducts surprise on-site audits, and requires thorough double-checking of every conceivable aspect of the equipment through mandatory validation processes conducted by outside auditors such as UL.

But who is checking our school districts' legal output?  I am. And that's just not right.

As a certified ISO auditor and regulatory affairs coordinator, I am flabbergasted the more I learn about LWSD's sloppy regulatory submissions, lack of legal compliance, and its casual accounting practices. Older schools such as Rose Hill have been allowed to deteriorate, and have been left to operate with original 1960s HVAC systems, filthy duct work and leaky roofs despite district access to over $2.5 in maintenance funds.

New schools cost taxpayers up to four times more than the national average. Board members entrust building site evaluation to contractors, approve massive projects after simply reading high-level summaries, and write checks for millions to fulfill change orders without conducting significant, in-depth investigations of chronic overrun causes and conditions. But hey, when you're in the business of cranking out new $50 to $150 million schools every 12-15 months and are on an avowed mission to tear down every school in the district every 40 years, who has time to sweat the details?

One district oversight, such as "neglecting to mention" two enormous, highly pressurized and potentially deadly aviation fuel and gasoline pipelines in an environmental assessment, can do enormous damage -- not only to the health, safety and happiness of thousands of people, but to the district's image of credibility and trustworthiness. Add to this error all of the other "oversights" in the STEM SEPA/DNS debacle and you have serious red flags that should have state auditors' eyebrows raised. But it doesn't. Because nobody in government dares mess with education: the most sacred of all cash cows.  Read More >>


The major, permanent impacts of LWSD's SEPA/DNS violations upon generations of children and community members are incalculable. God forbid, should a pipeline disaster occur, who among us will not suffer lifelong misery over our part in standing silently by, letting crucial child protection laws be broken just so a few temporary civic workers' reputations could be spared? As we should be learning from Japan, once the unthinkable happens, it is too late to be careful. Nothing should trump child safety.

Let's be clear: this is no "blogger's misunderstanding." The district's RHJH proposal is illegal per Ordinance 2137 because it locates a new school, with more than twice the number of people than the old one, too close to a hazardous pipeline. It is my assertion that they need to pull the SEPA Checklist and DNS (if one was actually submitted), walk the property, do the regulatory research that citizens are tired of having to do for them, and start over -- this time, obeying all pertinent laws.

I will be asking for an audience with our mayor soon, and will personally call on him to implement a full, competent, external and unbiased audit of all of LWSD's SEPA, DNS and related land use filings going back ten years. Despite the many wonderful things this board and district leadership have accomplished, and completely aside from their personal ties to others in positions of prominence and responsibility, there is adequate evidence to indicate that some portion of their constant stream of construction-related submissions is being rubber-stamped, and that they have been allowed to breeze past some critical safety and environmental requirements with little or no scrutiny.

Audits are not pleasant, but there is no other way to find out whether this is the tip of an iceberg of intentional corruption fueled by a culture of complicity among regulators and education insiders, or just plain old administrative incompetence. Either way, all of us owe it to the children to ensure their safety, and to mandate proper and appropriate use of our state's precious and dwindling school funds.

Opinion By Greyling Gentry
Parent, PTSA member and District volunteer
grayling.gentry@gmail.com

Greyling will be attending both RHJH "input session" meetings:  4/5 and 4/6 at 7PM, RHJH