Jacksonville’s Office of Inspector General is raising alarms about years of unpermitted construction in Duval County school kitchens, a pattern that not only violates building codes but could endanger students and staff.
“Field inspections and witness statements confirmed that DCPS consistently authorized commercial kitchen renovations, heavy mechanical utility upgrades, and electrical installations districtwide without requesting, issuing, or verifying required State Requirements for Educational Facilities, electrical, mechanical, or gas construction permits. Evidentiary findings further show that Code Enforcement personnel acknowledged that contractors were legally required to obtain permits and failed to do so, resulting in potential life-safety defects,” the OIG asserted in a report released on Wednesday.
Before launching its formal review, the Inspector General’s team visited Westside High School in 2024 and found major kitchen renovations had been completed without the required permits.
The formal investigation began a year after that initial visit, uncovering a pattern: several expensive projects across the district lacked the state-mandated permits and documentation, with violations stretching back to 2021.
Inspectors found more problems at San Pablo Elementary and Neptune Beach Elementary, where new serving lines were installed without permits and a commercial range hood was put in place without any code inspection.
At the Young Men’s Leadership Academy at Eugene J. Butler and North Shore Elementary, inspections in January 2026 revealed what the report called severe electrical and structural problems—none of which had been permitted.
The District also paid two separate vendors for the same serving lines at North Shore Elementary, raising questions about oversight and accountability.
Even after paying twice, the work at North Shore Elementary was riddled with problems. Inspectors found exposed wiring, open electrical junctions, and uninsulated floor connections beneath the new cafeteria serving lines—conditions that could put both staff and students at risk.
As of the deadline, Duval County Public Schools had not responded to the Inspector General’s findings, despite having ten days to reply.
The OIG recommends “immediate safety sweeps of all food service facilities modified since 2021, the implementation of financial controls that link procurement to verified permits, contractor performance evaluations related to SREF compliance, and formal disciplinary reviews for administrative personnel who authorized renovations outside statutory requirements.”
