CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A recent health inspection at West Mecklenburg High School found roaches, a ceiling falling in and several more problems.
Inspection records document multiple repeat violations, including two which required immediate attention: the ceiling in the girl's physical education locker room was falling in from water damage over the showers, and roaches were crawling on the door, walls, floor and in the mop sink in the custodial closet.
Beyond that, inspectors found low pressure at a water fountain, which could make a person's mouth come into contact with the nozzle, stall doors in disrepair and broken tissue dispensers in the boy's bathroom, broken floor tiles in the hall and stained ceiling tiles across the school.
The health inspector's visit last week resulted in an 80 -- the lowest B possible.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools pushes its schools to receive a minimum health grade of 90.
"CMS Building services works to provide a clean and safe learning environment for all students and staff at all CMS properties," CMS said in a statement. "Building services staff create work orders for all issues and treat these as urgent work orders with a response time of 48 hours. The recent health inspections help to identify areas of concern. CMS wants to assure families that the goal is that all schools would receive an inspection score of 90 or above."
NBC Charlotte first started questioning CMS about some of the health scores at the district's schools in 2017, including a 78 at West Meck. That inspection flagged problems with toilets and sinks, holes in walls, microbial growth on ceiling tiles and roaches in the culinary classroom. Back then, the inspector also found mice droppings.
A year prior, the school received a 70. West Meck's highest health score in recent years was an 86.5 in 2016.
CMS would not talk on camera but told NBC Charlotte that crews have fixed almost all of the problems, including the falling in ceiling and roaches.
A spokesperson said the damaged bathroom stalls, tissue dispensers, floor tiles, and stained ceiling tiles required the district to order parts. Those outstanding issues will be fixed by Wednesday, according to CMS.
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