“I feel like they should shut down the kitchen, get rid of all the rodents and start over,” says EHS junior Jihad Al-Yasiry. This response comes after students learned of yet another critical report issued by the Tri-County health department in March. The March 7th report finds food temperature issues as well as evidence of insects or rodent droppings. This was a follow-up inspection to the numerous issues found in February when health experts came through the TEC kitchen with a fine tooth comb. The full report can be found at this link. http://www.tchd.org/404/Health-Inspection-Look-Up

“I feel like the school is bad with keeping the kitchen clean. We deserve a clean environment to eat and learn in. We shouldn’t have to think about failing future health inspections”, says Mike Cronin (9). The news of continuing issues in the kitchen hit the Englewood Administration hard. Superintendent Wendy Rubin sent the following letter home to parents on March 17th.

Dear Englewood Campus Community,

Recently a news story was aired in regard to the TEC Campus. In February and March, the Tri-County Health Department conducted inspections at the Englewood Campus (TEC) and flagged several issues in the TEC kitchen. The full report is located here.  We realize this is the second time this school year that violations have occurred and we are addressing these issues immediately on many levels.

We are dismayed that district leadership was not made aware of the most recent health inspection violations by the staff responsible for food services.  We are very concerned about the reports and have directly addressed the findings. We hold ourselves accountable for these violations and are making personnel changes effective immediately to ensure that this does not happen again. The health and safety of our students and staff is a top priority at Englewood Schools and our commitment is that all of our departments and programs are operating at the highest standard.
Sincerely,

Wendy Rubin, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Englewood Schools
4101 S. Bannock St.
Englewood, CO 80110
[email protected]

Students are very concerned, “It disgusts me knowing they found rodent feces in our building. It is just gross,” says Shelby Kujala (9). The Pirateer reported on the issue December 19th and the newspaper staff has continued to follow up on cleanliness in the food service area.