Followup on FL Virtual School and evolution assignment

The St. Petersburg Times education blog The Gradebook asked the folks at Florida Virtual School about the issue of students using the online school to opt out of course material they or their families don’t like. Unfortunately, I’m still just a bit confused. The blog posts says:

In response to Monday’s Gradebook post, the Florida Virtual School just issued a statement saying its teachers do not allow FVS students to opt out of lessons in which they disagree – in this case, one involving evolution.

That sounds fine. But then the post goes on to include a direct quote from FVS Chief Learning Officer Pam Birtolo:

“Just as they can in traditional public schools, parents have the right to request that their child be allowed to opt-out of lessons with which they disagree.”

That’s odd. Birtolo then goes on to say in the quoted statement:

“We do not modify our course content or the relevant tests based upon requests by parents or students. When these special circumstances arise, parents are notified that their child will receive a zero for the missed lessons.”

So, I don’t understand. Parents can ask to opt-out, but the school does not modify course content based on those requests. Something doesn’t compute for me here.

It also needs to be pointed out that parents actually do not have the right to request an opt-out for anything and everything. Florida Statutes allow for only two opt-outs in science courses:

1003.42(3)
Any student whose parent makes written request to the school principal shall be exempted from the teaching of reproductive health or any disease, including HIV/AIDS, its symptoms, development, and treatment.

1003.47(1)(a)
No surgery or dissection shall be performed on any living mammalian vertebrate or bird. Dissection may be performed on nonliving mammals or birds secured from a recognized source of such specimens and under supervision of qualified instructors. Students may be excused upon written request of a parent.

Apparently, the FVS student in this specific case did the assignment, so the whole issue of opt-out in this instance is moot. But we here at Florida Citizens for Science have been hearing about schools throughout the state dealing with opt-out requests concerning the teaching of evolution. One such case is here. The bottom line is that there are no legally recognized justifications for allowing evolution lesson opt-outs.

About Brandon Haught

Communications Director for Florida Citizens for Science.
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10 Responses to Followup on FL Virtual School and evolution assignment

  1. Nancy Marsh says:

    Please be careful. This could end up as a bill to allow the opt-out provision for evolution.

    NJM

  2. Kathy S says:

    Then will they file a bill to opt-out of the Big Bang and thermodynamics? How about plate tectonics? Carbon-dating? Will it be just human evolution? or all of evolution?
    Maybe this is a “can of worms” worth opening!

  3. Bob Calder says:

    Opting out of plate tectonics is more logical. It has only been around for around thirty-five years in classrooms. It is every bit as anti-creation as any other bit of science. Perhaps more so. Why would God slide continents around like puzzle pieces, particularly over a very short period?

    Maybe we should all get together and let the geologists have the headache for the next hundred years or so by agitating for anti-plate tectonics legislation. But only if they lay off the rest of science.

    This reminds me that Collins in his Sociology of Philosophies theorizes that progress in developing theories is a direct result of conflict. While I don’t suggest that advances in evolutionary theory are happening for this reason, I think that fair numbers of people who would never have become involved in this intellectual conflict are becoming more aware.

    I wonder what Collins would have to say about fighting the defenseless? It’s really like the dead guys in horror movies like _The Mummy_ where they have no substance but keep arriving in enough numbers to clog your nose with dust. *cough*

  4. Green Earth says:

    It’s really like the dead guys in horror movies like _The Mummy_ where they have no substance but keep arriving in enough numbers to clog your nose with dust. *cough*

    Ha ha ha!!! great analogy =)

    I also like Stacy’s find about someone wanting their kid to opt out of geometry because of shapes (I’m hoping it was satirical), it makes sense right, the bible does say that pi is equal to 3! Yikes!

  5. Bob Calder says:

    @Green Earth Innumeracy is a parallel to illiteracy. People whose business it was to count things could do their jobs, but historic accounts are often at variance. For instance when archaeologists examine a site and find a stadium that had an absolute capacity of 300 but a historic account of 3,000 people at an event you’ve got to realize the problem was widespread. People often reported their age younger at later dates.

    Did you ever stop to think that eczema and leprosy are also commonly confused by laypeople even today?

  6. C.H. says:

    What do you not understand about “modifying course content”? It means they won’t change what the class teaches, based on individual students. That does not mean that alternate assignments won’t be accepted, or that student work can’t be individual and creative, it just means the course content (what is written down for students to read and respond to) won’t be changed based on a families opinion. If you run a stop sign, you are “opt-ing” out of following that law…but that doesn’t mean the law was changed. Isn’t this what real education is about, having students learn, think, evaluatee, make their own decisions and then present what they have learned.

    Sounds like everyone has their panties in a wad about the content, not the school. Hate to break it to you, but lots of people don’t believe in evolution or other issues taught in public school, but it doesn’t make them stupid or sheltered. Typical of Americans to demand that others who think differently be accepting of their views but complain, belittle and refuse to accept those who think differently.

  7. Karl says:

    I understand where you are coming from, and looking over the way FVS works, it would seem that given its function as a provider of curriculum, electronic course format, and it’s one-on-one approach with students, it is unlikely that other students who DON’T want anything to due with creationism will be exposed or affected in anyway. However, in the FAQ page, it lists itself as public school offering accredited coursework. What do you think would happen if the girl had tried this in an actual marine science class at a public school. I’d bet that since current school standards don’t allow for an opt-out/alternative she would have failed the assignment. Giving creationism any scientific legitimacy is bad, and allowing for the assignment to be completed in such a manner sets a bad precedent. The girl’s parents shouldn’t have enrolled her in a biology-related course if they didn’t want it to conflict with their religious beliefs.

    Oh, and C.H., you are forgetting something with your metaphor about opting out of stop signs. Last time I “opted out” of a stop sign, I got a lecture and a fat “failure to stop behind stop sign” moving violation ticket (~$80) from the sunshine state’s finest. Somehow, I don’t think telling the nice officer that I simply didn’t believe in stop signs would have helped…

  8. Bob Calder says:

    @Karl – Have you wondered where the Christian news agency got hold of the story? The parent that called the teacher is probably an activist who enrolled her child in the course deliberately. She thought that a marine biology course would be a soft target. She may even know that the state’s science standards on this course are not aligned with the big ideas the same way biology is. She definitely knows all the political moves.

    If these parents had a decent education to start with they would understand that diversity doesn’t mean stupidity.

    It is obvious that CH and the mommy think that the opt-out rule means we are backing down on calling evolution scientific fact. This is the WRONG place to say that. rofl They should go to their cereal box theology degreed preacher for agreement on that level.

  9. Wolfhound says:

    Sorry, C.H.; not “believing” in evolution DOES make somebody stupid and sheltered.

  10. Karl says:

    Yeah, I had my suspicions on the ulterior motives, but to give them the benefit of the doubt and approach this from an entirely non-religiously judgmental and purely legal/administrative viewpoint, it should still not be allowed. Accepting the creationist alternative implies that creationism has a place in a state-accredited biological science course offered by a public school. It’s already been established that it in fact DOESN’T. What part of keeping it in a church do they not understand…

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