Safety hazards abound in a regulatory maze Series: SCHOOLS IN RUINS (STANDARD)

If a ceiling collapsed or a fire erupted in your child's Chicagopublic school after a series of complaints, whom would you blame?

Would it be the Chicago Board of Education or the Chicago PublicBuilding Commission, either of which may own the building? Would itbe the Chicago Fire Department, which cites it for violations?

Would it be the Chicago Building Department? That agencyvisits the schools while they are being built and on an emergencybasis thereafter. Once or twice a year, it also conducts technicalinspections on boilers, elevators, heating and cooling units,mechanical ventilation systems and exposed metal structures such asfire escapes.

Or would it be the Illinois Department of Education and the CookCounty superintendent of schools, charged with ensuring the schoolcomplies with life safety codes that provide basic safeguards fromfire and other building hazards?

Schools are regulated by a maze of city, county and stateagencies.

Technically, many city schools are deemed safe because they meetstandards on serious safety regulations, such as working fire alarmsand trustworthy boilers.

But Chicago's schools have been hit by hundreds of lawsuitsalleging injuries and even death from unsafe conditions, a ChicagoSun-Times investigation shows. Building and fire code violations arerampant, state and city records show. While not considered animminent threat to safety or health, they carry the potential forbecoming dangerous.

The complex array of who's in charge of what leaves someworrisome loopholes that increase safety risks.

For example, electrical systems - a major cause of fires - areinspected by no outside agency, only the board's own electricians.

The Fire Department focuses on fire alarms and other fireprevention systems, fire hazards and building code violations.

The city Building Department makes electrical inspections inschools only when a complaint is made.

"We're discussing that issue right now," said William J. Holmes,director of technical inspections for the Building Department. "Iunderstand there had been at one time an annual electricalinspection. For one reason or another - and I haven't been able todiscern the reason - the practice discontinued quite a while ago."

That leaves the Cook County superintendent to inspectelectrical systems - but the inspections, once every four years,focus on only basic problems, a spokesman said.

Andre J. Jackson, supervisor of the Board of Education'sdivision of shops, would welcome an outside agency inspecting theschools for electrical failures. "It would ensure it's doneproperly," he said.

A Sun-Times series this week uncovered reports of exposed wiringand roof leaks seeping into electrical systems in city schools. Butthose complaints have never reached the Building Department.

"We're not aware of these complaints being made," Holmes said.

Nor have they reached Richard A. Haney, the Illinois State Boardof Education's assistant superintendent for the Department ofRecognition and Supervision. He took over that job in September.

"I wasn't aware of any problems of that magnitude," he said,referring to the cases uncovered by the Sun-Times.

But any situation that affect student safety calls for drasticmeasures, he said. "If there's a life-threatening situation with astudent, that should be the first priority," Haney said. "Thatshould be the first priority before teaching reading."

Such situations include a "tremendous fire hazard," such asexposed electrical wiring, and structurally unsafe buildings.

Ultimately the safety of students and staff is the charge of theChicago Board of Education, he said.

But, if a problem were serious enough, he said, the state couldwithhold aid or recognition of Chicago school programs. The statealso could work with other agencies to close a school.

Schools comply with standards on the most hazardous safetyregulations, because if they don't, they are shut down, building andFire Department officials said.

Serious code violations, such as malfunctioning boilers ordefective fire alarms, are quickly cared for by the Chicago Board ofEducation, those officials say.

In a serious violation, such as a malfunctioning fire alarm, theBoard of Education brings out electricians, said John T. Ormond,deputy chief of the Fire Prevention Bureau, which oversees cityschool inspections.

"And if they had to, they'd work all night to get (the power)up," he said.

When asked why electricians don't report violations tosupervisory agencies, a member of the board's facilities staff saidthe job of the overwhelmed workers is to fix problems, not reportthem.

"They would go out and try to correct them. That's what they'rethere for. They work on emergency work orders every day of theweek," said a staffer who asked not to be identified. "They have somuch, they can't keep up with it."

Meanwhile, city agencies say the involvement of so manyauthorities sometimes leads to less-than-ideal solutions.

Deputy Fire Commissioner Francisco de la Cerna recalls a fewyears ago, when a judge allowed firefighters known as fire guards tobe placed in a school to watch for blazes until the fire alarm systemwas brought into compliance.