LANSING, Ill. (January 27, 2024) – District 158 received its sixth consecutive perfect score on the Illinois State Board of Education’s annual Health and Life Safety Inspection in 2023. The inspection ensures that schools are safe, sanitary, and fit for occupancy.
State-required inspection
The Health and Life Safety Inspection is conducted every year at all school districts in the South Cook Intermediate Service Center (SCISC).
The SCISC provides educational services to 66 public school districts and 5 special education institutes in South Suburban Cook County including District 158.
Inspectors from the Regional Office of Education come to check for health and safety compliances by critically inspecting all components of the facilities including electrical systems, emergency lighting, and fire extinguishers.
The team consists of a head inspector and a maintenance director who specialize in school maintenance.
“They do a lot of the preventative work to make sure our schools are operating as safe as possible to have staff and students in them,” said Dr. Nathan Schilling, Superintendent of Schools at District 158. “We obviously want our buildings to be as safe as possible.
The inspectors go through a detailed checklist consisting of six pages to determine if there are any violations in the building.
“They found no violations for us,” said Dr. Schilling. “We have not had any now for six consecutive years.”
Going above and beyond
Schilling says District 158 personnel go through an inspection drill to determine if any possible violations need to be corrected before the official inspection.
He also says doing a pre-inspection helps make sure every aspect of the buildings in the district is fully compliant.
Ryan Fortin, Director of Building and Grounds for District 158, and his team work together to fix any violations found during the district’s drill.
“We’re an educational organization so educating students and promoting their learning is what we do but the most important thing even beyond that is ensuring their safety,” said Schilling.
“It is really important that everybody comes to work in facilities every day that are fully safe and legally compliant and if you can ensure that, which we do, then it is easier to focus on our mission which is teaching and learning,” he continued.
“Some of the districts may have infrastructure issues like old buildings, maybe they have trouble with heating or air conditioning, maybe they don’t have light in certain places and those are things that can potentially disrupt the learning process so by us being fully compliant in the Health and Life Safety Inspection, it allows us to then be more effective as an educational organization,” he said.
Related
- Angelique Carrillo honored as District 158 ABCDE Award winner (January 20, 2023)
Excellent job District 158! Keep up the great work!