If letter grades are the right way to force New York City restaurants to comply with the city health code, then the same standards should apply to school cafeterias.
That idea comes from the state Senate Independent Democrats, who last week issued “School Lunch Flunks,” a report showing that city school eateries have gotten pretty foul: Across the five boroughs, roughly 1,800 schools racked up 8,114 violations last year, up 17 percent from two years ago.
The troubles run from mouse and roach infestations to inadequate hand-washing. Yet “parents have no way of knowing about these violations,” notes state Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), who commissioned the report along with Sens. Diane Savino (D-SI), Jesse Hamilton (D-Brooklyn) and Sen.-elect Marisol Alcantara (D-Washington Heights).
One of the most egregious examples is the Sixth Avenue ES in Chelsea, where inspectors found roughly 400 mouse droppings.
“They should take immediate corrective measures,” a teacher at the school said Thursday. “It’s gross. It gives you a second thought of eating in this cafeteria.” Um, yeah.
Applying the city’s letter-grade system for restaurants, the report noted that 31 school cafeterias would earn a “C” — which would shut a private-sector eatery right down.
Mona Davids, head of the New York City Parents Union, loves the approach: “If we have a rating system for restaurants to protect the public, it’s common sense that we would have a rating system for school cafeterias.”
Think of the children.