{"id":315,"date":"2007-11-13T08:01:15","date_gmt":"2007-11-13T12:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=315"},"modified":"2008-08-05T20:06:48","modified_gmt":"2008-08-06T00:06:48","slug":"polk-county-school-official-wants-intelligent-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=315","title":{"rendered":"Polk County: School official wants intelligent design"},"content":{"rendered":"

This just in<\/a> from the Lakeland Ledger.<\/p>\n

A Polk County School Board member said Monday she wants the district to consider opposing proposed new science standards for Florida schools that would include specific mention of evolution for the first time.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

However, Polk board member Kay Fields objects to the portion of the standards that includes evolution, and she said she will talk with Superintendent Gail McKinzie this week about possible action the district can take.<\/p>\n

“There needs to be intelligent design as well,” Fields said. “You need to show both sides.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Florida Citizens for Science board member Jonathan Smith was quoted in the story (as a National Center for Science Education representative).<\/p>\n

Smith’s group supports the proposed standards and says there is overwhelming support in the scientific community for teaching evolution, while the idea of intelligent design is not scientifically valid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here we see the same old “it’s just a theory” junk trotted out:<\/p>\n

People have had limited opportunity to voice their opinions to state officials in person. Two meetings about the new standards were canceled.<\/p>\n

The second and last meeting for the public to attend will be on Thursday in Orlando.<\/p>\n

At the first meeting Saturday in Tallahassee, Wakulla County Board member Greg Thomas spoke out against the new standards.<\/p>\n

“This will run afoul of many students and teachers,” Thomas said Monday. “When I was taught this in public schools it was Darwin’s theory of evolution.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the record, the word theory has a different meaning in science<\/a>. If I heard correctly, the additional public meetings were canceled because there supposedly wasn’t time for proper advance notice to the public.<\/p>\n

I’m curious as to where these school board members heard about intelligent design. Friends, family, church, other parents, the library? Surely, if they heard about it, they also heard how it failed miserably in court? Tonight is a good opportunity for these folks to learn all they need to know when PBS airs a special on the subject<\/a>. It should be required viewing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This just in from the Lakeland Ledger. A Polk County School Board member said Monday she wants the district to consider opposing proposed new science standards for Florida schools that would include specific mention of evolution for the first time. … 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":[6,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-55","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":319,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=319","url_meta":{"origin":315,"position":0},"title":"Polk County on alert","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I had posted before about a Polk County school board member, Kay Fields, who expressed an interest in intelligent design. Well, the situation just got a whole lot worse. The local newspaper there, the Lakeland Ledger, asked the other board members for their opinions and revealed that a majority seem\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":[]},{"id":320,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=320","url_meta":{"origin":315,"position":1},"title":"Polk County update","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A school board meeting was held yesterday in Polk County. It was one of those long affairs as it was the annual organization meeting where officers are voted on and such. Science never came up. Then the public comment period was opened and a few people asked the board's support\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":[]},{"id":336,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=336","url_meta":{"origin":315,"position":2},"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":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=360","url_meta":{"origin":315,"position":3},"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":318,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=318","url_meta":{"origin":315,"position":4},"title":"Latest news story","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"TV station Bay News 9 ran a piece on the state science standards, choosing to make the story a dueling quotes war between FCS member Johnathan Smith and Polk County school board member Kay Fields. \"To me, just showing evolution is not fair to the students,\" Fields said. \"I am\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":377,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=377","url_meta":{"origin":315,"position":5},"title":"Early report on the Miramar meeting","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"An Associated Press article on tonight's meeting in Miramar about the new draft of the state science standards is already up on the Florida Times-Union website. The story does not give an overall impression of attendance or how many people spoke and such. The focus was mainly on just two\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\/315"}],"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=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}