Many city schools still do not have defibrillators – more than a year after the state required them, according to an audit from Comptroller William Thompson.
“This is a major issue that needs to be corrected,” Thompson said.
Two parents whose children died in schools have put the city on notice that they plan to sue.
None of 10 schools spot-checked by Thompson’s auditors had the lifesaving devices.
Defibrillators restart a stopped heart with an electric shock.
The audit also found that a number of schools had poor safety plans.
Auditors noticed exit doors that were locked on the inside or extremely difficult to open at four schools. That is a violation of the building code.
“Locked exit doors are simply unacceptable,” said Eva Moskowitz, chairwoman of the City Council’s Education Committee.
Two Bronx schools, MS 101 and PS 95, had ammonia and bleach and other chemicals kept in unlocked rooms to which pupils had access.
Three schools, PS 48 on Staten Island, PS 20 in Brooklyn and PS 95 in The Bronx, didn’t have floor plans with emergency exits available for review by parents in the principal’s office, the library or the custodian’s office.
In a response to the audit, Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm wrote that defibrillators had been ordered and that “all schools will have [one] and staff trained by the end of this current school year.”