Four more Amish and Mennonite schools have failed to comply with health codes for refusing to install running water and a septic system for outhouse toilets, a county health official said.
Malcolm Rust, an environmentalist for the Todd County health agency, said he contacted the leaders of the four schools and asked them to respond to his findings within two weeks.
All of the schools are in violation of health regulations because they use outhouse toilets that are not connected to septic systems and do not have running water indoors for students to wash their hands, Rust said.
The noncompliance comes one month after the Liberty Road Christian School, a one-room Mennonite schoolhouse serving 25 children, was ordered closed after school officials refused a judge's order for the same kind of plumbing upgrades.
The four schools, all affiliated with Amish or Mennonite churches, were identified as the West Fork School, with about 20 students; Sunny Slope School, also with about 20 students; Country Corner School, with about 15 students; and Miller Valley School, with about seven students.
A formal written notice of noncompliance has not been issued to the four schools. Rust said he hopes to handle the matter informally. "Right now we're just trying to talk to them," he said.
Amish and Mennonite families generally adhere to a strict religious belief of living simply. Although many have indoor toilets and running water in their homes, most do not use electricity, telephones and other modern conveniences. Many also do not own motor vehicles and instead travel in horse-drawn buggies or on bicycles.
Leaders of Liberty Road Christian School had argued plumbing upgrades were detrimental to their traditions and to their desire to maintain a simple lifestyle.
Health officials had been trying to force the school to upgrade the plumbing for more than a year before the judge's order.
During a meeting earlier this fall with the Todd County Board of Health, Henry Leids, a spokesman for Liberty Christian School, argued that other religious schools in the county had been allowed to remain open despite having plumbing facilities similar to those at his school. Leids apparently was referring to some of the schools Rust is now investigating.
All Amish and Mennonites schools in the county have now been identified, Rust said. There are seven schools, including the closed Liberty. Only two schools are in compliance.