{"id":10,"date":"2006-08-21T07:09:17","date_gmt":"2006-08-21T14:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=10"},"modified":"2008-08-05T10:19:48","modified_gmt":"2008-08-05T14:19:48","slug":"volusia-joins-the-fray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=10","title":{"rendered":"Volusia joins the fray"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have to admit to being shocked over how much intelligent design is cropping up in Florida school board races. I would think candidates would want to avoid that albatross what with all the times intelligent design has gone down in flames lately. Citrus, Escambia … and now Volusia county have it as an issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[James Brown] and [Stan] Schmidt also split over the idea of teaching “intelligent design” in public schools, an issue that’s expected to be discussed as part of an upcoming revision of state science standards. Supporters say the belief that biological life is so complex that it must have been designed by an intelligent source fills in gaps in the theory of evolution that’s already covered in science classes.<\/p>\n

Brown believes public school students should be allowed to learn about intelligent design, as part of an elective course, in addition to learning about evolution. Schmidt thinks it’s inappropriate and divisive to teach intelligent design in public schools. Denys declined to comment, saying that’s a debate that belongs at the state level.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But wait, there’s more. That’s just one of the races in Volusia. Check out this other district race<\/a>. You might want to swallow whatever you are drinking so that you don’t spray it all over your keyboard once you read the final quote.<\/p>\n

The two candidates are clearly split when it comes to some larger education issues, such as whether “intelligent design”– the belief that biological life is so complex that it must have been designed by an intelligent source — should be taught alongside the theory of evolution in public schools.<\/p>\n

That’s expected to be an issue as Florida revises its academic standards for science next year.<\/p>\n

“I really don’t think intelligent design has a place in our curriculum,” [Diane] Smith said. “It’s more of a philosophical belief than something that can be proven through the scientific method.”<\/p>\n

[Eugene] Stump has a different solution for defusing the controversial issue. “They took prayer out of school, let’s take evolution out of the school.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have to admit to being shocked over how much intelligent design is cropping up in Florida school board races. I would think candidates would want to avoid that albatross what with all the times intelligent design has gone down … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-a","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":784,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=784","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":0},"title":"Voices for reason","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A new member of the Pinellas County School Board, Nina Hayden, was quized by the St. Petersburg Times. One particular answer made me smile: Question: It appears the state Board of Education may have to adopt new academic standards by the end of 2011, including a new set of science\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Science Standards"","block_context":{"text":"Our Science Standards","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":502,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=502","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":1},"title":"News roundup","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"My apologies for this quick news link dump. The chemistry class I'm taking now is kicking my butt. I hope to have some thoughts on the movie situation up here tonight. In the meantime: Herald Tribune. I'm not buying what Mr. Luskin is selling. Stein and John Stemberger, president of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Creationism Bills"","block_context":{"text":"Creationism Bills","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=360","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":2},"title":"Polk County cries uncle","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes public school education decision makers\u00c2\u00a0are\u00c2\u00a0foolish enough to express their ignorance of what makes sound science. But an unrelenting pounding by pro-science groups and individuals\u00c2\u00a0can turn the tide.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0It can be a rude awakening for these folks, but if a little bit of ribbing, unapologetic educating about what science is and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the News"","block_context":{"text":"In the News","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":731,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=731","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":3},"title":"Teachers Opt For Texts Without Intelligent Design","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Teachers Opt For Texts Without Intelligent Design Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go looking for any mention of intelligent design in high school biology textbooks in Hillsborough County. When science teachers voted to adopt new textbooks last week, they could have chosen a book that included a brief reference to the belief that life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Textbooks"","block_context":{"text":"Textbooks","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":336,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=336","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":4},"title":"It’s hitting the fan now","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The issue of evolution in the state science standards, and the fate of those standards because of evolution, made the headlines today. Florida Citizens for Science members and the National Center for Science Education were very busy yesterday with interviews for these stories. The main strategy being used here by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the News"","block_context":{"text":"In the News","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=400","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":5},"title":"A letter to the editor worth noting","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been staying away from posting letters to the editor on this blog, because there are so many of them. But this one I thought was worth taking note of due in part to what it says and in part to who wrote it. This was in the Palm Beach\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alert"","block_context":{"text":"Alert","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}