Cost To Manufacture Epipen

Consulting Firm: Oconee Schools 'Very Efficient'

Even in a time of economic cutbacks, an outside review of the efficiency of Oconee County Schools reported the district to be in “very efficient” shape at Monday’s School Board work session.

James Wilson of Education Planners, a consulting firm, gave a presentation on the efficiency of the district, which Wilson reported was among of the best of 10 districts he’s worked with in the last six months.

Wilson recommended the district cut clerical positions at both high schools by one or two positions, maximize its use of finance software to communicate throughout the district and increase assistance for special education services.

For the first time in three years, the cost of school lunch was recommended to increase. Susan Elsner, director for school nutrition, recommended the cost of breakfast increase by 20 cents, and lunch by 25 cents. Elsner said federal government reimbursements are not intended to support meals for paying students.

Randy Morrison, the assistant superintendant for finance, reported that the fiscal year 2012 budget would be about $1.9 million less than fiscal year 2011. The district would make up that shortfall, he said, through three staff furlough days , staff reductions through attrition and retirement and tapping the fund balance.

The furlough days are recommended for Aug. 3, April 6 and May 22, designed to be before or after scheduled breaks. The board will vote on approval of those days on June 13.

Morrison also presented the board a draft of a resolution to call a special election on Nov. 8 to issue general obligation bonds and to continue a one-cent sales tax for educational purposes, namely capital projects. If passed, the money would be in hand by February.  

Other items heard at the meeting:

Interview with Elizabeth Goldenberg – OneSpot Allergy

I’m very pleased to share my interview with Elizabeth Goldenberg, President of Onespot Allergy, of onespotallergy.com, full of useful information on the topic of food allergies, food safety and children and much more.

Nowadays many people are faced with food allergies, and you provide an incredible website/service which helps people to avoid such allergens. What led you to create your site?

It’s true that many more people have food allergies these days.  The most recent studies report that they affect five to ten percent of the population.  I recently crunched the numbers for peanut and tree nut allergic individuals in the U.S., and the figure was 4,587,905 individuals.

I have two sons, and my younger son was diagnosed with allergies to peanuts and tree nuts in 2002 when he was two years old.  I take things very seriously and I love to come up with custom solutions for everyday problems.  After handling his allergy for one year, I realized that I’d created a system that kept him safe and prepared.  I started my company in 2009 (once he was in school full time), and I now sell those safety products on http://www.onespotallergy.com .

Do you personally have any food allergies?

I don’t have any food allergies, and my husband and older son don’t either.  I’m familiar with restricted diets, since I’m vegetarian and I don’t eat wheat, dairy, or sugar.  Since my restrictions are based on personal choice, I don’t take the precautions to avoid all traces of those foods, which you need to take when you’re Celiac or food allergic.

I’m curious to know, how did the EpiPen come about?  Was this your idea or did you work with another company/person to create this product?

The EpiPen auto-injector has been around for a long time.  It was developed for the military to allow soldiers to inject themselves with medication to treat exposure to nerve agents. Although it’s a patented medical product, the inventor Sheldon Kaplan never received any royalties for his invention and lived a modest life.  Smaller vanity auto-injectors are now coming on the market, but I don’t think they’ll be successful.  People want to stay with what’s familiar to them, what emergency workers are trained to use, and what they trust.

Food allergy, adverse reactions to food and food additives

The New York times magazine

The parliamentary debates (Hansard)., House of Lords official report

The Provision of Allergy Services: Report, together with formal minutes

Consumers' research magazine