From owner-comp-bio@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Mon Feb 5 22:22:00 2001 Return-Path: Received: by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix, from userid 110) id 1A51317AF0; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 22:22:00 +0000 (GMT) Received: by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix, from userid 6023) id A7CE117AE8; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 22:21:58 +0000 (GMT) Received: by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix, from userid 60001) id 8977717AE8; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 22:11:39 +0000 (GMT) To: bionet-biology-computational@net.bio.net From: hsscience@eosbiotech.com (David Kristofferson) Newsgroups: bionet.biology.computational Subject: IMPORTANT - high school needs equipment Organization: Eos Biotechnology, Inc. Message-ID: <3A7F23F1.3039F906@eosbiotech.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Received: by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix, from userid 6024) id C479717A7B; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 22:11:35 +0000 (GMT) X-Received: from InterJet.eosbiotech.com (www.eosbiotech.com [209.110.158.1]) by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 73E604171F for ; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 22:11:15 +0000 (GMT) X-Received: (from daemon@localhost) by InterJet.eosbiotech.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) id OAA12226 for ; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 14:04:34 -0800 (PST) X-Received: from UMMXI.eosbiotech.com(192.168.1.55), claiming to be "eosbiotech.com" via SMTP by InterJet.eosbiotech.com, id smtpdK12223; Mon Feb 5 22:04:29 2001 X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en X-To: comp-bio@net.bio.net Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 22:21:58 +0000 (GMT) Sender: owner-comp-bio@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Dear Comp-Bio readers: As some of you may recall I was responsible for organizing and running the BIOSCI/bionet newsgroups for over ten years on a non-profit basis. I resisted using this system for personal profit during this time (while others made fortunes from the Internet), but I finally have to ask you a favor. This favor, however, is on the behalf of others. This message is intended for readers in the U.S.A. My apologies to readers in other countries who can skip this message (unless they are curious about the state of high school science education in the U.S. I am sure that some of you could tell similar or even sorrier stories.). My daughter started high school this past fall, and I subsequently received a letter from the chairman of our local high school science department regarding their budget. The letter detailed how the department had only about $4 per student per year to buy scientific supplies. The teachers paid for the mailing of the letter to the parents out of their own pockets. Needless to say, many parents, myself included, donated money to help out. I have had three follow-on meetings with the dept. chairman and principal to see how else we might be able to improve the quality of science education at the school. I am staggered by the fact that school systems, despite all of the political and media attention given lately to education, are still struggling with budgetary problems in the midst of one of the greatest economic booms in history. Our local high school district just passed a large school bond measure with the onerously required 2/3's majority **after three attempts** but all of this money is targeted for building repairs (there are some very old facilities in the district that have been nursed along for years with minimal upkeep). I'm also serving on a citizen oversight committee on the disbursement of funds from this initiative. The deferred maintenance issues and, of course, the long running battles over paying teachers decent wages mean that other areas of budgetary need continue to go wanting. Among the items that the teachers need are microscopes, digital balances, analytical balances, hot plates, scientific calculators, lab aprons, goggles, and a sterilizer. Often pharmaceutical/biotech/chemical companies have old or surplus equipment that may still be usable by schools. If you know of any, please contact me at hsscience@eosbiotech.com (a special address I set up for this purpose). However, they also need some larger items like a couple of fume hoods for the chemistry labs and money to cover the salary of a part time lab assistant/stock room manager which might necessitate applying for some kind of grant. I would also appreciate any tips on possible funding sources to pursue. Sincerely, David Kristofferson ex-BIOSCI/bionet Manager Director, Information Systems Eos Biotechnology, Inc. --- .