Indian Affairs: Key Actions Needed to Ensure Safety and Health at Indian School Facilities
Published: 2016-03-16T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: This testimony summarizes the information contained in GAO's March 2016 report, entitled Indian Affairs: Key Actions Needed to Ensure Safety and Health at Indian School Facilities , GAO-16-313 .
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: The Department of the Interior's (Interior) Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs (Indian Affairs) lacks sound information on safety and health conditions of all Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) school facilities. Specifically, GAO found that Indian Affairs' national information on safety and health deficiencies at schools is not complete and accurate because of key weaknesses in its inspection program, which prevented GAO from conducting a broader analysis of schools' safety and health conditions. Indian Affairs' policy requires its regional safety inspectors to conduct inspections of all BIE schools annually to identify facility deficiencies that may pose a threat to the safety and health of students and staff. However, GAO found that 69 out of 180 BIE school locations were not inspected in fiscal year 2015, an increase from 55 locations in fiscal year 2012. Agency officials told GAO that vacancies among regional staff contributed to this trend. As a result, Indian Affairs lacks complete information on the frequency and severity of health and safety deficiencies at BIE schools nationwide and cannot be certain all school facilities are currently meeting safety requirements.
Number of Bureau of Indian Education School Locations That Were Inspected for Safety and Health, Fiscal Years 2012-2015
Indian Affairs is responsible for assisting schools on safety issues, but it is not taking needed steps to support schools in addressing safety and health deficiencies. While national information is not available, officials at several schools GAO visited said they faced significant difficulties addressing deficiencies identified in annual safety and health and boiler inspections. Inspection documents for two schools GAO visited showed numerous high-risk safety and health deficiencies—such as missing fire extinguishers—that were identified in the prior year's inspection report, but had not been addressed. At another school, four aging boilers in a dormitory failed inspection due to elevated levels of carbon monoxide, which can cause poisoning where there is exposure, and a natural gas leak, which can pose an explosion hazard. Interior's policy in this case calls for action within days of the inspection to protect students and staff, but the school continued to use the dormitory, and repairs were not made for about 8 months. Indian Affairs and school officials across several regions said that limited staff capacity, among other factors, impedes schools' ability to address safety deficiencies. Interior issued an order in 2014 that emphasizes building tribes' capacity to operate schools. However, it has not developed a plan to build BIE school staff capacity to promptly address deficiencies. Without Indian Affairs' support of BIE schools to address these deficiencies, unsafe conditions at schools will persist and may endanger students and staff.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: I am pleased to be here today to discuss the findings from our recently  issued report, entitled Indian Affairs: Key Actions Needed to Ensure  Safety and Health at Indian School Facilities. The Department of the  Interior’s (Interior) Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs (Indian  Affairs) is responsible for ensuring safe and healthy learning  environments for over 47,000 Indian students at schools funded and  overseen by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). Currently, there are  185 elementary and secondary schools at 180 locations on or near Indian  reservations across the country.
Indian Affairs oversees multiple bureaus and offices at the national and  regional level that play a key role in ensuring safe and healthy conditions  at BIE school facilities. The Division of Safety and Risk Management,  within the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Management,  provides technical assistance and leadership for Indian Affairs’ safety and  occupational health program. This program is designed to ensure BIE  schools are free from conditions that pose a threat to the safety and  health of students and staff, among other purposes. The program  includes safety requirements for BIE schools, including annual safety and  health inspections, timely abatement of safety and health deficiencies,  boiler inspections by certified inspectors, fire protection, and  establishment of safety committees for all schools. Bureau of Indian  Affairs (BIA) regional offices are responsible for administering this  program, including conducting annual safety inspections at all BIE school  locations. Ten BIA regions have school safety inspection responsibilities  (see fig. 1). BIA’s Safety and Health Handbook for Field Operations lays  the foundation for incorporating safety and health into the planning of all  BIA work activities, including those related to schools. Lastly, BIE  oversees various educational functions for schools and works directly with  schools to provide technical assistance on facility matters.
Over the past four decades, we have conducted a body of work on  challenges related to Indian education, including longstanding issues with  Indian Affairs’ management of school facilities. Our work on BIE school  facilities conducted in 1997 and 2003 highlighted the poor conditions at  Indian schools and the need for more reliable national data to assess the  condition of school facilities. In February 2015, we testified before this  committee on the continued challenges Indian Affairs faces in overseeing  and supporting BIE school facilities. Later in 2015, we testified on Indian  Affairs’ systemic management challenges with BIE schools and  concluded that such challenges undermine its mission to provide Indian  students with quality education opportunities and safe environments that  are conducive to learning. We further noted that unless steps are  promptly taken to address these challenges, it will be difficult for Indian  Affairs to ensure the long-term success of a generation of Indian  students. In recent years, Interior’s Inspector General and others have  also reported issues with Indian Affairs’ management of BIE schools,  including some related to their facilities, and some of these reports have  highlighted safety hazards at certain schools with the potential to  seriously harm students.
My statement today—summarizing findings from our recent report— addresses the extent to which Indian Affairs (1) has information on the  safety and health conditions at BIE school facilities and (2) supported  schools in addressing any safety and health deficiencies at school  facilities and monitored whether schools have established required safety  committees. To conduct this work, we analyzed agency data from fiscal  years 2012 through 2015 to determine the frequency of school safety and  health inspections, visited 16 BIE schools across the country, examined  Indian Affairs’ practices against its policies and federal standards for  internal control, and interviewed agency and school officials. Our recent  report, on which this testimony is based, was prepared in accordance with  generally accepted government auditing standards.
subsections: section_title: Indian Affairs Does Not Have Complete and Accurate Information on School Safety and Health
paragraphs: We found that Indian Affairs does not have complete and accurate  information on safety and health conditions at all BIE schools because of  key weaknesses in its inspection program. In particular, Indian Affairs  does not inspect all BIE schools annually as required by Indian Affairs’  policy, limiting information on school safety and health. We found that 69  out of 180 BIE school locations were not inspected in fiscal year 2015, an  increase from 55 locations in fiscal year 2012 (see fig. 2). Further, we  determined that 54 school locations received no inspections during the  past 4 fiscal years.
At the regional level, Indian Affairs did not conduct any annual school  safety and health inspections in 4 of BIA’s 10 regions with school facility  responsibilities—the Northwest, Southern Plains, Southwest, and  Western regions—in fiscal year 2015, accounting for 52 of the 180 school  locations (see fig. 3). Further, the same four regions did not conduct any  school inspections during the previous 3 fiscal years. In the Western  region, we found three schools that had not been inspected since fiscal  year 2008 and three more that had not been inspected since fiscal year  2009. Indian Affairs’ safety office considers the lack of inspections a key  risk to its safety and health program.
BIA regional safety officers that we spoke with cited three key factors  affecting their ability to conduct required annual safety and health  inspections: (1) extended vacancies among BIA regional safety staff, (2)  uneven workload distribution among BIA regions, and (3) limited travel  budgets. Officials told us that one BIA region’s only safety position was  vacant for about 10 years due to funding constraints. As an example of  uneven workload distribution, one BIA region had two schools with one  safety inspector position, while another region had 32 schools with one  safety inspector position.
Currently, Indian Affairs has not taken actions to ensure all schools are  annually inspected. Without conducting annual inspections at all school  locations, Indian Affairs does not have complete information on the  frequency and severity of safety and health deficiencies at all BIE school  locations and cannot ensure these facilities are safe for students and staff  and currently meet safety and health requirements.
We also found that Indian Affairs does not have complete and accurate  information for the two-thirds of schools that it did inspect in fiscal year  2015 because it has not provided BIA inspectors with updated and  comprehensive inspection guidance and tools. In particular, we found that  Indian Affairs’ inspection guidance lacks comprehensive procedures on  how inspections should be conducted, which Indian Affairs’ safety office  acknowledged. For example, BIA’s Safety and Health Handbook—last  updated in 2004—provides an overview of the safety and health  inspection program but does not specify the steps inspectors should take  to conduct an inspection. Further, according to some regional safety staff,  Indian Affairs does not compile and provide inspectors with a reference  guide for all relevant current safety and health standards.
At the same time, BIA inspectors use inconsistent inspection practices,  which may limit the completeness and accuracy of Indian Affairs’  information on school safety and health. For example, at one school we  visited, school officials told us that the regional safety inspector  conducted an inspection from his car and did not inspect the interior of  the school’s facilities, which include 34 buildings. The inspector’s report  comprised a single page and identified no deficiencies inside buildings.  Concerned about the lack of completeness of the inspection, school  officials said they arranged with the Indian Health Service (IHS) within the  Department of Health and Human Services to inspect their facilities. IHS  identified multiple serious safety and health problems, including electrical  shock hazards, emergency lighting and fire alarms that did not work, and  fire doors that were difficult to open or close.
Currently, Indian Affairs does not systematically evaluate the  thoroughness of school safety and health inspections and monitor the  extent to which inspection procedures vary within and across regions.  According to federal internal control standards, internal control monitoring  should be ongoing and assess program performance, among other  aspects of an agency’s operations. Without monitoring whether safety  inspectors across BIA regions are consistently following inspection  procedures and guidance, inspections in different regions may continue to  vary in completeness and miss important safety and health deficiencies at  schools that could pose dangers to students and staff.
To support the collection of complete and accurate safety and health  information on the condition of BIE school facilities nationally, we  recommended that Interior (1) ensure all BIE schools are annually  inspected for safety and health, as required by its policy, and that  inspection information is complete and accurate and (2) revise its  inspection guidance and tools, require that regional safety inspectors use  them, and monitor safety inspectors’ use of procedures and tools across  regions to ensure they are consistently adopted. Interior agreed with  these recommendations.
section_title: Indian Affairs Is Not Providing Schools with Needed Support in Addressing Deficiencies or Consistently Monitoring Whether They Have Established Safety Committees
paragraphs: We also found that Indian Affairs is not providing schools with needed  support in addressing deficiencies or consistently monitoring whether they  have established safety committees, which are required by Indian Affairs.  In particular, according to Indian Affairs information, one-third or less of  the 113 schools inspected in fiscal year 2014 had abatement plans in  place, as of June 2015. Interior requires that schools put in place such  plans for any deficiencies inspectors identify. Because such plans are  required to include time frames, steps, and priorities for abatement, they  are an initial step in demonstrating how schools will address deficiencies  identified in both annual safety and health and boiler inspection reports.
Among the 16 schools we visited, several schools had not abated high- risk deficiencies within the time frames required by Indian Affairs. Indian  Affairs requires schools to abate high-risk deficiencies within 1 to 15 days,  but we found that inspections of some schools identified serious unabated  deficiencies that repeated from one year to the next year. For example,  we reviewed inspection documents for two schools and found numerous  examples of serious “repeat” deficiencies—those that were identified in  the prior year’s inspection and should have been corrected soon  afterward but were not. One school’s report identified 12 repeat  deficiencies that were assigned Interior’s highest risk assessment  category, which represents an immediate threat to students’ and staff  safety and health and require correction within a day. Examples include  fire doors that did not close properly; fire alarm systems that were turned  off; and obstructions that hindered access/egress to building corridors,  exits, and elevators. Another school’s inspection report showed over 160  serious hazards that should have been corrected within 15 days,  including missing fire extinguishers, and exit signs and emergency lights  that did not work.
Besides these repeat deficiencies, we also found that some schools we  visited took significantly longer than Indian Affairs’ required time frames to  abate high-risk deficiencies. For example, at one school, 7 of the school’s  11 boilers failed inspection in 2015 due to various high-risk deficiencies,  including elevated levels of carbon monoxide and a natural gas leak (see  fig. 4). Four of the 7 boilers that failed inspection were located in a  student dormitory. The inspection report designated most of these boiler  deficiencies as critical hazards that posed an imminent danger to life and  health, which required the school to address them within a day. School  officials told us they continued to operate the boilers and use the  dormitory after the inspection because there was no backup system or  other building available to house the students. Despite the serious risks to  students and staff, most repairs were not completed for about 8 months  after the boiler inspection. Indian Affairs and school officials could not  provide an explanation for why repairs took significantly longer than  Indian Affairs’ required time frames.
Limited capacity among school staff, challenges recording abatement  information in the data system, and limited funding have hindered  schools’ development and implementation of abatement plans, according  to school and Indian Affairs officials. Additionally, Indian Affairs has not  taken needed steps to build the capacity of school staff to abate safety  and health deficiencies, such as by offering basic training for staff in how  to maintain and conduct repairs to school facilities. While some regional  officials told us that they may provide limited assistance to schools when  asked, such ad hoc assistance is not likely to build schools’ capacity to  abate deficiencies because it does not address the larger challenges  faced by schools. Several officials at Indian Affairs’ safety office and BIA  regional offices acknowledged they do not have a plan to build schools’  capacity to address safety and health deficiencies. Absent such a plan,  schools will continue to face difficulties in addressing unsafe and  unhealthy conditions in school buildings.
Finally, we found that Indian Affairs has not consistently monitored  whether schools have established safety committees, despite policy  requirements for BIA regions to ensure all schools do so. Safety  committees, which are composed of school staff and students, are vital in  preventing injuries and eliminating hazards, according to Indian Affairs  guidance. Examples of committee activities may include reviewing  inspection reports or identifying problems and making recommendations  to abate unhealthy or unsafe conditions. However, BIA safety officials we  interviewed in three regions estimated that about half or fewer of BIE  schools had created safety committees in their respective regions, though  they were unable to confirm this because they do not actively track safety  committees. Without more systemic monitoring, Indian Affairs is not in a  position to know whether schools have fulfilled this important requirement.
To ensure that all BIE schools are positioned to address safety and health  problems with their facilities and provide student environments that are  free from hazards, we recommended that Interior (1) develop a plan to  build schools’ capacity to promptly address safety and health problems  with facilities and (2) consistently monitor whether schools have  established required safety committees. Interior agreed with these  recommendations.
In conclusion, because Indian Affairs has neither conducted required  annual inspections for BIE schools nationwide nor provided updated  guidance and tools to its safety inspectors, it lacks complete and accurate  safety and health information on school facilities. As a result, Indian  Affairs cannot effectively determine the magnitude and severity of safety  and health deficiencies at schools and is thus unable to prioritize  deficiencies that pose the greatest danger to students and staff. Further,  Indian Affairs has not developed a plan to build schools’ capacity to  promptly address deficiencies or consistently monitored whether schools  have established required safety committees. Without taking steps to  improve oversight and support for BIE schools in these key areas, Indian  Affairs cannot ensure that the learning and work environments at BIE  schools are safe, and it risks causing harm to the very children that it is  charged with educating and protecting. Interior agreed with our  recommendations to address these issues and noted several actions it  plans to take.
Chairman Calvert, Ranking Member McCollum, and Members of the  Subcommittee, this concludes my prepared remarks. I will be happy to  answer any questions you may have.
section_title: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: If you or your staff have any questions about this testimony or the related  report, please contact Melissa Emrey-Arras at (617) 788-0534 or  emreyarrasm@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional  Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this  statement. Key contributors to this statement and the related report  include Elizabeth Sirois (Assistant Director), Edward Bodine (Analyst-in- Charge), Lara Laufer, Jon Melhus, Liam O’Laughlin, Matthew Saradjian,  and Ashanta Williams.
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