Last week, Education Week reported, with the cooperation of state authorities, that the Minnesota State Department of Education, in an unprecedented move, conducted a one-day statewide purge of hazardous chemicals from the science laboratories and storerooms of its junior and senior high schools.
State officials were eager to call attention to a problem they believe plagues many of the nation’s schools. Interviews with teachers, administrators, and academic and government experts on hazardous waste confirmed that the dangerous substances found in the Minnesota school laboratories can indeed be found in science facilities in junior and senior high schools across the country.
On these pages Education Week looks further into some of the complex issues surrounding the problem of disposal of hazardous chemicals.
