The full Missouri Senate has approved eight appointees to serve on various boards and commissions.
The list of appointees include Maureen Clancy-May for the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Governors. She addressed ways to improve the state’s reading outcomes during her confirmation hearing Wednesday.
“We need to have consistency with reading instruction that is provided across the state,” said Clancy-May. “I think the science of reading has made an impact. Although it’s still early in terms of test results…I think the training has been outstanding.”
Clancy-May, who has served for more than 40 years in public education, retired in December as a supervisor for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Another appointee is former St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, who was nominated to serve on the UM System Board of Curators. She explained the main mission of the System’s board.
“This university system educated almost 70,000 people last year. That was their combined enrollment, most of whom are Missourians, not all, of course,” she said. “The folks that are not Missourians pay much additional tuition. But that’s so important, I think, to our workforce and also to keeping our young people in the state of Missouri.”
Krewson was appointed last year by former Gov. Mike Parson.
Former state Senator Kurt Schaefer has been tapped to head up the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. He told lawmakers that a lot of what the department does is dictated by the federal government.
“For example, air is going to be a very big topic because energy is going to be a huge issue for at least the next decade. It’s one of the most important issues facing the country right now. The state of Missouri has to submit a SIP, a state implementation plan under federal law, and (the) EPA sets those guidelines,” Schaefer explained. “So, the NAAQ, the National Ambient Air Quality standards that we have to comply with – could there be a change in those? Yes, and when that happens, we’ll have that discussion.”
Schaefer previously served as DNR’s General Counsel and Deputy Director. He oversaw response and cleanup efforts after the Taum Sauk Reservoir wall partially collapsed on December 14th, 2005, in eastern Missouri. One billion gallons of water rushed down the mountainside in 12 minutes and wiped out most of Johnson’s Shut-ins State Park.
One of the former directors of the Missouri Department of Public Safety will also get to lead the department again. Mark James told members of the Senate Committee on Gubernatorial Appointments that attacking crime in the state starts with repeat offenders.
“As of last week, I know that we had 17,657 active felony warrants in the state of Missouri for what is called UCR Part One crimes, which are the worst of the worst of crimes – assaults, robberies, murders, drug trafficking, and so forth,” he said.
James served as Public Safety director from 2005 to 2009 under former Gov. Matt Blunt. Before that, James served as Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms’ Kansas City field office. More recently, he worked as a U.S. Marshal out of Kansas City and served as chancellor of Metropolitan Community College.
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