Be Aware
As a diversified organization the Florida Citizens for Science must remain neutral on political issues,however. Currently there are many elections taking place through out the state for County School Board Representatives. It would be wise for us to follow those candidates and keep abreast of their positions on science education. Here is one example from the race in Polk County. Terry Pittman(who is running for district 6) was interviewed in the Lakeland Ledger today and dropped this gem.”"The teaching of creationism has as much of a place as evolution, when it comes to policy-making decisions, everyone should be taken into consideration.” You need to be aware of who you are voting for and how their policies could effect science education in your district.
July 10th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
We have at least one creationist running in Hillsborough County. See vote4kemple.com for some of the details.
July 11th, 2010 at 8:26 am
Thanks for staying on top of this.
July 12th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Norwood: I mentioned Kemple previously here: http://www.flascience.org/wp/?p=1196
As far as Pittman, keep in mind that he is running to replace a current board member, Margaret Lofton, who also supports creationism/ID.
July 16th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Brandon: I saw the earlier post - thanks for the mention!
I think it’s awesome that voters will get to pick between 2 creationists for this seat.
Funny that Pittman mentions dropouts and creationism, in the same interview - my worst experiences in the 2 large public school districts in which I spent most of my childhood involved openly Christian teachers who had no qualms about informing me that as a non-believer I was destined to an eternity in hell.
These experiences were the only times I ever considered that school might not be worth the effort.