New York (New York Post) -- In hundreds of city public-school lunchrooms, the three R's stand for roaches, rodents and rotten food. A staggering 360 school cafeterias - nearly one out of every three - is infested with mice, according to shocking new health-inspection reports obtained by The New YorkPost.
In all, 111 schools - nearly one in 10 - were slapped with so many flagrant food violations that they flunked their inspections. That's more than triple the prior year's 3 percent failure rate. And, the total number of rodent violations in school food areas jumped 10 percent during the 2005-2006 academic year - to 413 from 370 the prior year. 127 schools were slammed as "public health hazards" for serving food that is meant to be cold and milk at temperatures exceeding 41 degrees. That's a nearly threefold increase from the 43 hazardous schools the year before.
Meanwhile, 530 cafeterias - nearly half - were hit with violations for shoddy maintenance and crumbling conditions that invited pests. "Wow. Those are big numbers," said Elisa Hyman of Advocates for Children. "That's a serious cause for concern. I don't think we should have any failing inspections or mouse droppings in any school." Schools that fail their food inspections are re-inspected. But unlike restaurants, they are not fined.
But at one school, IS 22 in The Bronx, the cafeteria was deemed such a public-health menace that it had to be closed immediately. Inspectors wrote that a "dark-colored waste with foul order" contaminated its food-storage room and the front service area.
Among the horror stories at other schools:
* Mice ruled at PS 20 in The Bronx, which led the city with 65 violations.
* At PS 138 in The Bronx, a dead roach was found in a dough mixer.
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