In the wake of reports that schools in the Inglewood School District were maintaining filthy conditions including blood on a restroom sink and black stains on bathroom walls, administrators are making moves to clean up the campuses.
Inglewood High School was one of several schools named in the investigation by NBC4 media partner KPCC.
This weekend, the district sent a custodial crew to pressure wash restrooms, with a second deep cleaning to be scheduled in the coming days.
This is part of what they call an "action plan," detailed on KPCC's website, that includes converting a faculty restroom into a student bathroom and assigning full time custodians to certain restrooms.
“We are talking about rats, cockroaches, whatever rodents you can think,” said volunteer coach Sherisse Smith last week. “Some things I don't even know what they are but they’re crawling around on the perimeter of the gym floor.”
Other potential hazards included tiles missing from the ceiling and exposed pipes.
The district now said an extermination company will now visit the campus on a monthly basis.
The state took over the district two years ago in an effort to save it from bankruptcy, and the state superintendent said under this guidance the district's debt has dropped by millions of dollars.
Still, the district has experienced significant facility issues including non-functioning fire alarms at schools and declining academic progress according to the fiscal crisis management assistance team, the mandatory report for schools under state receivership.
In a statement, the state trustee who oversees the district said it is working on addressing concerns in that report.
The district also said it is planning to update and replace buildings across the district, including at Inglewood High.
Smith said she was shocked changes have come so quickly, and that she is happy the district is trying to make improvements now.
