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The Missourian reported Tuesday that the Columbia Public School District received more than 6,500 pounds of pre-cooked beef that has been recalled by the Department of Education. Columbia schoolchildren may have consumed up to 1,100 pounds of the meat. No sickness resulting from the meat has been reported.
Columbia Public Schools are still in possession of some 5,500 pounds of the recalled meat, and there’s a dispute between state and federal officials over how they should dispose of it.
According to USDA protocol, each individual school district is in charge of disposing of the meat and following the safe procedures set by local health agencies, and the meat should be destroyed by the end of February.
Karen Wooten, Missouri director of food services for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said she would prefer the state agency to pick up the meat and destroy it at a central location. She also said officials in other states agreed that the February deadline is too soon.
She said that one way the state was considering disposing of the meat was to put ammonia on it and then put it in a landfill.
What do you think should be done with the meat?
Stem cell research
In 2006, Missourians narrowly approved a constitutional amendment that allows all federally sanctioned stem cell research and activities to occur in Missouri. A group called Cures without Cloning is sponsoring a proposal for the November ballot that would reverse part of the amendment.
The proposal would ban a procedure called somatic cell nuclear transfer. The sponsors say this procedure creates life and that those cells should not be used for research.
Sponsoring groups of citizen initiatives must submit their proposals to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, who writes the language that goes on the ballot. Carnahan released the summary language in October and was met with immediate opposition from Cures without Cloning.
Cole County Judge Patricia Joyce rewrote Carnahan’s ballot language, calling it “insufficient and unfair.” Joyce added a line to Carnahan’s text explaining that the measure would allow other types of stem cell research.
It was the second time a judge struck down wording by Carnahan.
Who should determine what language and how much detail goes into ballot language?
Forsee’s first day
Gary Forsee, a former CEO of Sprint Nextel, had his first official day as president of the University of Missouri System on Feb. 17. In a press conference Monday, he talked about how he wanted to be, for both students and faculty, “their biggest advocate, their biggest supporter in Washington, Jefferson City and around the state.”
Since the Dec. 20 announcement of his hiring, Forsee has visited all four of the system’s campuses and attended the January UM System Board of Curators meeting.
On Monday, he named priorities, including the protection of the university’s current assets and new economic development aimed at making the system the “engine for the state.”
Frank Schmidt, the MU faculty council chairman, said that the preparation of Forsee’s agenda “could be applauded.” He also said that some faculty members have questioned Forsee’s overall interest in faculty concerns. Erin Moran, student affair chair of the Missouri Students Association, said that after two and a half years in MSA, he had never seen a president get involved. He also said that having a stronger relationship with the students would help Forsee earn their respect.
What does MU need from its new system president?
Time change for the school budget meeting
Looking to get the public involved in the process of cutting $5 million a year from its budget, the Columbia School Board moved the time of a work session March 20 from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The move is part of a push for input that included an online survey for Columbia teachers and staff about what programs, equipment, material and supplies they didn’t need while not compromising quality of service or student achievement.
On Feb. 11, the board approved some possible areas for cuts, including potential teacher and staff layoffs or postponing the purchase of new supplies, such as textbooks and technology.
On March 10, the board will review ways that the cuts can be made but will make no official decision. The final vote will take place at the rescheduled meeting on March 20.
Board Vice President Darin Preis said the cuts will happen whether or not a property tax levy is approved in the April 8 election that would generate an extra $10.3 million a year.
Is the school board doing enough to give the public a say in the budget cuts?
Campus alerts
MU implemented a new mass notification system in December 2007 that would alert students, faculty and staff of emergencies via text messages.
After the shooting at Northern Illinois University on Feb. 14, MU Chancellor Brady Deaton sent an e-mail to everyone at the university that encouraged them to sign up for the alert system. As of Feb. 15, only 19 percent of the campus had registered their cell phone number.
MU has yet to use the system to alert students and employees of emergencies.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City also has a mass cell phone notification system and has used the system twice for weather emergencies, but it experienced a 20-minute delay between sending the message and receiving it.
Terry Robb, director of information technology with MU’s telecommunications department, said that since it will not be using the system frequently, there is no reason not to sign up.
How effective is the emergency alert system if only 19 percent of the university community will get the messages?
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