Fifteen Navajo Nation schools within the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education system were not inspected for health and safety threats in fiscal year 2015. That’s according to a new report released by the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog. The federal school system serves about 47,000 Native American children nationwide.
The report found 69 schools system-wide were not inspected in 2015, a 25 percent increase in three years.
Melissa Emrey Arras, a GAO director, said some inspections that were completed weren’t always accurate.
"We heard of an incident where an inspector never left his car because he had a bad back," said Emrey Arras. "And therefore sent in a one page inspection report saying that everything was fine with the inside of the buildings despite the fact that there was 34 buildings on site that he never set foot in."
The group also found that high risk safety issues at several schools, like faulty boilers leaking natural gas, were not quickly resolved.
According to the report officials with the Bureau of Indian Affairs officials say a lack of adequate staffing and limited budgets contributed to the issues.
The findings come in the midst of an overhaul within the Bureau of Indian Education and as the Interior Department seeks roughly $1 billion in funding to improve school conditions.
