Meeting set to review potential cancer cluster at Liberty elementary school
LIBERTY, Mo. — The Clay County Public Health Center said it is submitting information for review to the Missouri Cancer Inquiry Committee – regarding concerns raised about a possible cancer cluster at Warren Hills Elementary School in Liberty.
This request is an extension of the 'cancer cluster investigation' carried out in 2022.
Rep. Graves asking RFK Jr. to look into cancer cases at Liberty school
To date, 10 staff members have been diagnosed with various cancers, mostly breast cancer. The committee is set to meet on June 25 to review the diagnosis data and determine the next steps.
The Clay County Public Health Center and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in previous years concluded '…there is no evidence to suggest that the breast cancer rate at Warren Hills Elementary is higher than expected, which means no environmental investigation is warranted.'
Regardless, the school district said it has initiated a series of environmental tests.
Warren-Hills-Follow-Up-Letter-with-Attachments-5.14.25Download
Mobile users, please click the link above for the best PDF experience.
A document dated May 8, 2025, written by a staff member of the Clay County Public Health Center says, 'to date, the school has received information on a total of 7 breast cancer cases, 1 cervical, 1 brain and 1 throat cancer among their staff. There are also potentially concerns about student populations as of 2025.'
'One of the environmental concerns raised by school staff has been related to the on-site cell tower,' the document reads.
In 2022 and 2023, the school district investigated the tower; it received a compliance report confirming full adherence to FCC standards.
In regard to the 'cancer cluster inquiry' on April 17, the district shared the following message:
'The District became aware that the Clay County Public Health Center (CCPHC), the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS), along with the Missouri Cancer Registry were prepared to move forward with requesting/initiating a follow up cancer cluster inquiry at Warren Hills. The District promptly expressed its support for this effort and offered our assistance. This week, the District received confirmation that these agencies made a formal recommendation to the Missouri Cancer Inquiry Advisory Committee to proceed with the inquiry. We were notified today, (05/14/25) that the Committee will meet on 6/25/25 to formally review the diagnosis data and determine next steps.'
You can find the other assessments made by the district here.
According to school's website, in August of 2022, the district was notified by the principal at Warren Hills Elementary that several staff members had received cancer diagnoses in recent years.
Since then, follow-up tests have been conducted, including water testing, radon testing and air quality testing.
Sara Peterson-Davis' daughter attended the school, starting in the 3rd grade, when the family moved to the area 22 years ago. She said the unknown and recent news is concerning.
'It seems incredibly unusual to have that cluster of people who have the same cancer who worked in the same proximity of each other,' she said. 'It would be nice to know…I mean, it would be crucial to know actually what the problem is.
'It's a school; there are children; there are staff. People want to be safe where they work and where they live and where they learn.'
You can see a timeline of when concerns were brought to the school and how the district handled them, as well as the agencies that were/are involved, here.
A statement provided by Liberty Public Schools reads:
'Liberty Public Schools is committed to providing safe and healthy learning environments at all of our schools and facilities. Specifically to Warren Hills Elementary, in recent years our team has been in close contact with the Clay County Public Health Center, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Children's Mercy Environmental Health, and the Missouri Cancer Registry, as we have responded to specific health and environmental concerns expressed by Warren Hills staff. We are thankful for their expertise and partnerships and will continue to work with them as we move forward. Their work has been, and will continue to be, essential in leading and guiding us. In following the guidance and determinations made by the health agencies listed above, we have been assured that the school is safe for the Warren Hills community. Having said this, we also fully recognize that this school community has had questions related to this, and it is of the utmost importance to us to support them with information and resources. Throughout, our focus has been on the well-being of our staff and students as we have worked to provide support to the Warren Hills school community. An account of all of the work completed to date has been published and made available on the Warren Hills school website, which is updated regularly. We will continue to remain engaged with the staff, families, and school community and provide them updates, as necessary.'
The district said it was notified Wednesday that there will be a meeting held by the committee on June 25 to look more into this.
Congressman Sam Graves has asked for federal help with uncovering the root causes in the 'concerning number of cancer diagnoses amongst staff and students at Warren Hills Elementary School in Liberty, Missouri.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Calming Box' sparks controversy in Aurora
AURORA, Mo. — Parents in Aurora are outraged after photos of a 'calming box' inside one of the school buildings surfaced online. 'When we were first starting [our child] with getting help in the school and the special needs room for his ADHD, we were told there was a sensory room where there were like weighted blankets and puppets and squished balls and stuff like that, but nothing even remotely close to a calming box,' said parents Mikayla Thomas and Tiya McKinney. Photos show a box made of wood, with padding on the walls and the door, which does not appear to have any latch of any kind. For Thomas and McKinney, they weren't aware of the box, and say it's a source of trauma. 'I turned it around to [my son], and he just froze completely and started crying. Whenever I asked him was like, Have you ever seen this? Do you know what this is? He couldn't even talk. He couldn't even talk, and he just started crying,' McKinney said. 'Seeing your nine year old break down like that, it hurts for one, and it makes you feel like crap because you had no idea that this was going on and you couldn't protect your kid,' Thomas said. Ozarks First reached out to the Aurora School District. Dr. Ben Yocom, the district's superintendent, gave this statement: 'The Aurora R-VIII School District is aware of a recent social media post by an individual using the pseudonym 'Splater Butt' concerning a calming space located within one of the District's behavioral classrooms. The post includes a photograph of a calming space and refers to it as a 'box.' To clarify, the calming space (sometimes referred to as the calming box) does not include a top (roof) but rather is completely open. Students in the calming space can stand straight up, stretch out their arms completely, safely navigate the padded walls in the calming space, and are completely visible and accessible while inside the calming space. There is no locking mechanism on the door of the calming space and no student is left alone or unsupervised in the space. The calming space is an established component of the classroom environment designed to support the behavioral and emotional regulation of students. The District remains committed to ensuring safe, lawful, and developmentally appropriate support for all students. As such, the calming space is utilized in two capacities: (1) voluntarily by students as a self-regulation strategy; and (2) as part of a restrictive behavioral intervention consistent with Missouri Revised Statutes § 160.263 and Board of Education Policy JGGA: Seclusion and Restraint. As transparency and student safety remain priorities in the District's behavioral support practices, each school year, the District provides parents and guardians with information regarding the calming space, including the opportunity to view the area in person. Parents who have questions, concerns, or complaints regarding the calming space are encouraged to contact Superintendent Dr. Ben Yocom at 417-678-3373.' Thomas and McKinney say they don't care if the box or space has a roof. 'Regardless of if there's an open top, it really doesn't matter. There are a hundred different ways that I could explain that a child could get hurt in that thing, with or without a top, with or without a door, with or without a teacher present in there. It's just not safe. It's not okay. It's not safe,' Thomas said. Thomas and McKinney say until changes are made, their kids won't be part of the Aurora School District. 'I feel like the only way that we would feel comfortable putting our kids back in this school district is if we have a 100% certainty that this is being removed,' McKinney said. 'It's not okay. The way they're using it is completely wrong.' The two say contacting parents is the best way to maintain a level of trust between parents and school staff. 'Call. Let us take care of our child. If you can't ultimately calm them down, give us a chance. We've raised them. We've been with them their whole life. Every single day. We are with them. You're only with them four days out of the week. Don't traumatize them,' Thomas said. Thomas says she's meeting with an attorney on Wednesday to discuss potential litigation and encourages any parents who have endured a similar situation with the district, specifically regarding the calming box/space, to reach out over social media through her fiancé's Facebook account. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. appoints 8 new members to CDC's vaccine advisory committee, including some critics of shots
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Wednesday eight new members to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's independent vaccine advisory committee, some of whom have been critics of shots -- especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It comes just two days after Kennedy removed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), claiming the panel was plagued by conflicts of interest and was a "rubber stamp" for all vaccines. The ACIP makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines, and the CDC has the final say on whether or not to accept the recommendations. MORE: What may be next for CDC's vaccine advisory committee after RFK Jr. removed all its members? Kennedy said in a post on X that the new members include "highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America's most accomplished physicians. All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense." The new members will be at an upcoming ACIP meeting scheduled to be held between June 25 and June 27, according to Kennedy. The meeting is to discuss new recommendations for several vaccines, including the HPV vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine. "The committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule as well," Kennedy wrote in the post on X. The new eight members appear to have strong credentials related to medicine, public health, epidemiology and statistics, but with less of an emphasis on credentials related to immunology, virology and vaccinology in comparison with previous committees. Kennedy told ABC News on Tuesday that the replacements for ACIP would not be "anti-vaxxers." However, some of the new members have previously espoused anti-vaccine sentiments, especially around COVID-19 vaccines and mRNA technology. One of them, Dr. Robert Malone -- who made some early contributors to mRNA vaccine technology -- spread misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming people were "hypnotized" into believing mainstream ideas about COVID-19, such as vaccination. MORE: RFK Jr. has promoted 'freedom of choice' while limiting vaccines, food Retsef Levi, another newly appointed member, has previously published non-peer reviewed research alongside Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo on COVID-19 vaccines, suggesting healthy people have died from the shots. Another of the new members, Dr. Martin Kulldorff, was a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, along with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health. Published in October 2020 and named after the Massachusetts town in which it was drafted, the Great Barrington Declaration called for COVID-19 lockdowns to be avoided and a new plan for handling the pandemic by protecting the most vulnerable individuals but allowing most to resume normal activities, achieving herd immunity naturally -- a plan criticized as "unethical" by Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization. At least four of the eight members appear to have been influential to Kennedy's beliefs. Stat News reported that Malone, Kuldorff and two other new members, Vicky Pebsworth and Dr. Cody Meissner, are all listed in the dedication in the secretary's book, 'The Real Anthony Fauci,' which attempts to undermine the former health official's work and questions his motivations before and during the pandemic. It remains unclear if Kennedy plans to appoint any more members to ACIP RFK Jr. appoints 8 new members to CDC's vaccine advisory committee, including some critics of shots originally appeared on
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
RFK Jr. announces eight new members of vaccine panel after firing all 17 members
RFK Jr. announces eight new members of vaccine panel after firing all 17 members Vaccine experts have warned Kennedy's abrupt moves could create public distrust around the government's role in promoting public health. Show Caption Hide Caption RFK Jr. expels entire CDC vaccine advisory committee Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. removed a 17-member panel at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that issues recommendations on vaccines. unbranded - Newsworthy Two days after he fired all 17 members of a committee that advises the federal government on vaccine safety, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced eight new members, including a physician criticized for spreading COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories. Vaccine experts warned Kennedy's abrupt termination of the entire committee on June 9 would create public distrust around the government's role in promoting public health. The new list of members includes scientists, public-health experts and physicians. "All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense," wrote Kennedy in a post on X on June 11. "They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations." The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It comprises medical and public health experts who develop recommendations on the use of vaccines in the civilian population of the United States. "The committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule as well," noted Kennedy, who has a history of controversial views on vaccines. Dr. Paul A. Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the Food and Drug Administration Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, previously told USA TODAY that Kennedy was "fixing a problem that doesn't exist," by overhauling the committee. Picking members for the committee generally involves a three- to four-month vetting process by the CDC. Offit said he would "presumably pick people who are like-minded, and I think that will shake confidence in this committee." The list of appointees includes: Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist with a career in clinical research, public health policy, and federal service; Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist formerly at Harvard Medical School and a leading expert in vaccine safety and infectious disease surveillance; Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management who specializes in healthcare analytics; Dr. Robert W. Malone, a physician-scientist and biochemist who claims to be the inventor of mRNA vaccine technology and has falsely claimed spike proteins from COVID-19 mRNA vaccines often causepermanent damage to children's vital organs; Dr. Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth; Dr. James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician; Vicky Pebsworth, who holds a doctorate in public health and nursing from the University of Michigan and Michael A. Ross, a clinical professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University. and will replace them with new members, a move that the Trump administration's critics warned would create public distrust around the government's role in promoting public health.
