Posted: November 22nd, 2010 - 12:27pm by Doug Powell

Inspections of some Colorado school cafeterias in the last two years have turned up evidence of everything from rodents to fecal matter -- issues that are considered "critical violations," according to local health departments.

Tom Butts of the Tri- County Health Department, told CBS4 school cafeterias, "in general they are some of our better operated facilities. They have lots of people watching them."

But that scrutiny doesn't guarantee cleanliness.

At Denver's South High School, a 2009 city inspection of the cafeteria revealed "evidence of rodents ... in the facility. Rodent droppings are found in the dry storage along the walls on the floor."

South High School principal Steve Wera told CBS4 the problems have been addressed, adding, "We've made the appropriate changes. We can do better, we need to do better at this so I made sure we did."

Wera said since those problems were discovered the school brought in a new lunchroom manager and made other staff changes.