Access Research NetworkIn a move encouraged by teachers and school administrators during almost a year of debate, trustees of the Roseville Joint Union High School District decided Tuesday to keep anti-evolution ideas out of biology classes.
Trustees voted 3-2 against the "Quality Science Education Policy," introduced by parent Larry Caldwell and later modified by Trustee Dean Forman.
The proposed policy asked biology teachers to present the "scientific strengths and weaknesses" of the theory of evolution and mandated that a note be sent to parents each semester stating that "a growing minority of scientists question the ability of (Charles) Darwin's theory to provide an adequate scientific explanation for the origin and diversity of life on Earth."
Trustees Forman and Kelly Lafferty voted in favor of the proposal. Trustees Jim Joiner, Jan Pinney and Gary Kidder opposed it, prompting a standing ovation and loud whoops of joy from some audience members, including parents holding signs that said: "We have faith in our science teachers."
Yet rejection of the policy marks defeat for parents who have said the district's science curriculum is incomplete because - like public schools across the state and most of the nation - it teaches Darwin's theory of natural selection without presenting conflicting arguments about how life emerged.
"We're all for academic freedom. We're all for the professionalism of our teachers," Caldwell said in an address to the board. "But at the same time we've got to make sure our students learn to think critically about science."
His proposals to reform biology instruction set off a firestorm of objection from district science teachers, who say there are no scientifically valid arguments against the theory of evolution. Twenty-eight district science teachers signed a petition last month against the proposed policy.
And the proposal exacerbated poor relations between teachers, who said they are doing their job professionally and don't want to be "micromanaged" by politicians, and school board members, who said they are acting as representatives elected to serve the interests of the public.
In a separate petition, 242 teachers from a variety of subject areas asserted that the "personal and politically motivated agendas of some members of the board ... have created an atmosphere of distrust and cynicism in teachers."
Many teachers and other opponents of altering the instruction of evolution have asserted that Caldwell, Lafferty and Forman are motivated by their Christian faith. Caldwell has responded by saying that some of his opponents are motivated by atheism. All three have said that their desire to add anti-evolution ideas to biology class is based on scientific - not religious - disputes with Darwin's theory.
In comments to the board urging defeat of the proposed policy, Granite Bay High School science teacher Chet Dickson read from a letter Lafferty wrote in 2001 when she served on the board of the Roseville City School District.
The letter, urging the public to support her efforts to incorporate an anti-evolution perspective in science classes at the elementary level, states that scientific evidence now exists to disprove Darwin's theory.
"I believe that God has given us these scientists and this information at this time to use for this exact purpose," Dickson read from the letter that Lafferty acknowledged writing.
The debate over how to teach evolution in Roseville high schools has cost the school district more than $46,000 in legal fees and hundreds of staff hours, according to assistant superintendent Don Genasci.
The issue emerged last summer when Caldwell objected to a biology text being approved by the school board. He said the book was flawed because it excludes criticisms of evolution.
Seeking what he described as balanced science instruction, Caldwell introduced supplemental instructional materials. He showed science teachers a series of videos and written materials highlighting what he perceives as weaknesses in the evolution theory.
For example, the materials state, similarities among species - such as having five digits on each limb - do not necessarily indicate a common ancestor. Another example concerned perceived problems with fossil evidence.
Science teachers considered the materials, sent them to several universities for review and decided that the lessons were not appropriate for their classrooms.
File Date: 6.2.04
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