{"id":2023,"date":"2014-02-16T10:34:43","date_gmt":"2014-02-16T14:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2023"},"modified":"2014-06-22T17:07:42","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T21:07:42","slug":"folks-worried-about-tuck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2023","title":{"rendered":"Folks worried about Tuck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two letters to the editor were printed in today’s Daytona Beach News Journal<\/a> about the appointment of Andy Tuck to the Florida Board of Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First one:<\/p>\n

\n

Religion, not science<\/h3>\n

Should Gov. Rick Scott\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appointment of Andy Tuck, who so virulently opposes the teaching of evolution in our state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s schools, be taken as an indication of the governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own regard for pseudo-science? Tuck is highly regarded among those who wish to undermine sound science education in our schools and tear down what President Thomas Jefferson called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the wall of separation of church and state.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The creationism Tuck wishes to have taught in place of evolution is a religious doctrine, not science! Education board members need to support academic integrity. Tuck seems to be at war with academic integrity.<\/p>\n

The Bible and religious instruction have important positions in our lives, but do not belong in taxpayer supported schools and certainly can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be called science! We need state Board of Education members who will never attempt to use yesterday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s answers, like creationism, to answer tomorrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s problems \u00e2\u20ac\u201d foremost among them, the maintenance of the highest quality educational standards in the 21st century!<\/p>\n

Rabbi Merrill Shapiro<\/strong><\/p>\n

Palm Coast<\/p>\n

Shapiro is president of the board of trustees of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Second one:<\/p>\n

\n

Appointment is troubling<\/h3>\n

With the stroke of his pen, Gov. Rick Scott, a few days ago, brought Florida into the 16th century! The man who refers to himself as an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153education governor\u00e2\u20ac\u009d appointed Andy Tuck, a citrus grower from Highlands County, to the Florida Board of Education. I, for one, am deeply disturbed by this selection because Andy Tuck has stated clearly that he does not believe that evolution should be taught in the public schools.<\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I strongly oppose any study of evolution being taught at all. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m purely in favor of it staying a theory and only a theory. I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t support evolution being taught as a fact in any of our schools.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That statement troubles me.<\/p>\n

Mr. Tuck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quote seems to show that he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, or accept the accepted definition of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153theory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as used by scientists. Despite Gov. Scott\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often-stated belief that Florida needs an outstanding public school system, by pandering to the religious right he surrenders all claim of the honored title as an education governor.<\/p>\n

Larry Babitts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ormond Beach<\/p>\n

Babitts is president of the Democratic Club of Northeast Volusia County.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two letters to the editor were printed in today’s Daytona Beach News Journal about the appointment of Andy Tuck to the Florida Board of Education. First one: Religion, not science Should Gov. Rick Scott\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appointment of Andy Tuck, who so … 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":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-wD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3494,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3494","url_meta":{"origin":2023,"position":0},"title":"New Florida Board of Education Chair: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t support any evolution being taught as fact at all in any of our schools.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida has a new Board of Education chairman: Andy Tuck. When the state science standards were rewritten in 2008, Tuck was vice chairman of the Highlands County school board. Several school boards passed resolutions opposing the inclusion of evolution in the new standards. Highlands seriously considered a resolution but eventually\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 75 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 75 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3494#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/theorywere.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2004,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2004","url_meta":{"origin":2023,"position":1},"title":"“I’m not trying to get religion in schools”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Orlando Sentinel columnist Beth Kassab takes a firm stance for science education and against creationism in today's piece: Why are we still debating evolution in education? Florida Citizens for Science gets a mention at the end! I called [new Florida Board of Education member Andy] Tuck to find out where\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2004#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1995,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1995","url_meta":{"origin":2023,"position":2},"title":"New State Board of Education Member: no evolution","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This week our governor appointed a new member to the state Board of Education: Gov. Rick Scott has made his next pick for the state Board of Education: citrus grower and former Highlands County School Board Chairman Andy Tuck. We have a problem. Back in 2008 Mr. Tuck said this:\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 19 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 19 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1995#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":408,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=408","url_meta":{"origin":2023,"position":3},"title":"Heads-up: Anti-evolution heads south to Highlands County","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Tampa Tribune (Highlands Today) reports that Highlands County school board members need to learn their science. This is the first county that's not in north Florida to have this discussion. They haven't done a resolution yet, but they want to: SEBRING \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Four of five members of the School\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":3506,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3506","url_meta":{"origin":2023,"position":4},"title":"Florida Evolution vs. Creationism Timeline","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The need to defend science education in Florida is truly never ending. I chronicled the many skirmishes, battles and wars fought over the teaching of evolution in my book Going Ape: Florida's Battles over Evolution in the Classroom. The Florida anti-evolution efforts I wrote about started in the 1920s and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":503,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=503","url_meta":{"origin":2023,"position":5},"title":"A quick analysis","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's my quick take on the whole Expelled mess and the relation to the creationism bills. I've been closely watching the media reports concerning science education in Florida for a few years now. I've seen tidal waves of news coverage when anti-evolution\/anti-science rises from the depths. The Seattle-based Discovery Institute\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023"}],"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=2023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2024,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023\/revisions\/2024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}