{"id":319,"date":"2007-11-20T07:07:20","date_gmt":"2007-11-20T11:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=319"},"modified":"2008-08-05T20:03:12","modified_gmt":"2008-08-06T00:03:12","slug":"polk-county-on-alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=319","title":{"rendered":"Polk County on alert"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had posted before about a Polk County school board member<\/a>, 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 to agree with Fields<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A majority of Polk County School Board members say they support teaching intelligent design in addition to evolution in public schools.<\/p>\n

Board members Tim Harris, Margaret Lofton and Hazel Sellers said they oppose proposed science standards for Florida schools that lists evolution and biological diversity as one of the “big ideas” that students need to know for a well-grounded science education.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“If it ever comes to the board for a vote, I will vote against the teaching of evolution as part of the science curriculum,” Lofton said. “If (evolution) is taught, I would want to balance it with the fact that we may live in a universe created by a supreme being as well.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(edite to add: School board members say they are getting e-mails supporting intellgent design. We need to counter that misinformation. Please consider taking a moment to send e-mails to the school board members<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0Tim Harris, Tim.Harris@polk-fl.net<\/a>. Margaret Lofton, Margaret.Lofton@polk-fl.net<\/a>. Hazel Sellers, Hazel.Sellers@polk-fl.net<\/a>. Kay Fields, Kay.Fields@polk-fl.net<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the reporter has some background information on the Dover case<\/a>, which ruled in no uncertain terms that intelligent design is not science, but rather a strictly religious idea. We appreciate its mention in the story. But then comes the real shocker:<\/p>\n

Despite the Pennsylvania case, some school board members want both intelligent design and evolution taught in Polk schools. They say they have received numerous e-mails and phone calls in support of intelligent design.<\/p>\n

“My tendency would be to have both sides shared with students since neither side can be proven,” Tim Harris said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A couple of our Florida Citizens for Science board members will be on hand today during a school board meeting\u00c2\u00a0to try to talk some sense into these people.<\/p>\n

[Jonathan] Smith said that board members may not understand the implications of fighting the new standards.”Are they going to teach intelligent design and have a million-dollar lawsuit?” Smith asked. “I doubt that.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … 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":[6,3,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-59","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":315,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=315","url_meta":{"origin":319,"position":0},"title":"Polk County: School official wants intelligent design","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"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. ... However, Polk board member Kay Fields objects to the\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":319,"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":319,"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":319,"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":377,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=377","url_meta":{"origin":319,"position":4},"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":[]},{"id":344,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=344","url_meta":{"origin":319,"position":5},"title":"Teach one, teach ’em all","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A column in the Tallahassee Democrat addresses the issue of whether a person can accept evolution and have religious faith. I know that conversation has taken place on this blog's comments, with folks taking all sides. Some feel that science trumps religion. Others think religion trumps science. And still others\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319"}],"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=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}