What Grades Darien Health Dept. Gives School Cafeterias

Cafeterias in Darien Public Schools passed the town Health Department's inspections with flying colors in October after an inspector found minor problems in some schools.

Darien High School and Holmes School received perfect scores of 100 in the state scale, which deducts points for every health code violation -- in other words, the inspector found no violations whatever.

Restaurants in town -- which often have more difficult challenges, such as broader, changing menus and tighter kitchen spaces -- seldom get such a high grade. (Here's the most recent set of town Health Department inspection results of Darien restaurants.)

Under Darien's own rating system -- "good"/"fair"/"poor" -- all the schools received a "good" grade.

These other schools in town received one, two or several violations -- also scores that nearly every restaurant manager in town would envy:

Tokeneke School, 7 Old Farm Rd. -- Oct. 2
State score: 99
Inspector's remarks: "Dust buildup on and around air condition[er] unit; Very clean, very good food protection, very good cold temp[erature]s. No hot holding -- food in final stages of cooking."

Ox Ridge School, 395 Mansfield Ave. -- Oct. 2
State score: 98
Inspector's remarks: "Overstocked walk-in freezer"

Royle School, 133 Mansfield Ave. -- Oct. 2
State score: 98
Inspector's remarks: "Overstocked freezer"

Hindley School, 10 Nearwater Ln. -- Oct. 3
State score: 98
Inspector's remarks: "Food container stored off the floor -- freezer"

Middlesex Middle School, 204 Hollow Tree Ridge Rd. -- Oct. 3
State score: 99
Inspector's remarks: "Scissor improperly stored"