{"id":3250,"date":"2018-03-15T16:54:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T20:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3250"},"modified":"2018-03-15T16:54:24","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T20:54:24","slug":"citrus-county-citizens-dont-tiptoe-around-controversial-topics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3250","title":{"rendered":"Citrus County citizens: don’t tiptoe around “controversial” topics"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been very busy tracking down results of science textbook adoption public hearings and school board votes. I’m discouraged by how many school district websites are absolutely useless in this regard. I would think that posting public notices about instructional materials adoptions on official websites would be the first thing districts would do. But I guess not. See my previous post that lists every single Florida school district<\/a> and their current known status concerning science instructional materials adoption. I could use your help in keeping it updated.<\/p>\n

Many school districts have already had their public hearings about the science materials and of those that I could find meeting summaries or videos, the vast majority didn’t have a single person come forward to speak. On the one hand, that means the creationists aren’t stampeding the school boards. On the other hand, that also means science advocates aren’t either.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One notable exception so far is in Citrus County. I was impressed to watch three women tell the board how they had inspected the textbooks and found them lacking depth in some topics. One speaker told the board that the books lacked necessary detail about topics like climate change and fossil fuels. No, they were not arguing for inclusion of anti-science! Rather they said the books needed much better fact-based information. One woman said that it seemed that some textbooks tiptoed around so-called controversial topics.<\/p>\n

My sincere appreciation goes out to these ladies. They did an awesome job of standing up for rigorous science education. They’ve set a wonderful example for the rest of us. See them in action here<\/a>. The public comments starts at about 59:50.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been very busy tracking down results of science textbook adoption public hearings and school board votes. I’m discouraged by how many school district websites are absolutely useless in this regard. I would think that posting public notices about instructional … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-Qq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3210,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3210","url_meta":{"origin":3250,"position":0},"title":"March is a busy month for science textbook adoptions","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many school districts are having meetings and public hearings and votes throughout March about new science instructional materials. In some districts that have already approved their new list of science materials, there have been some controversy and close votes. In other districts, the recommended materials were approved without a fuss.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Textbooks"","block_context":{"text":"Textbooks","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/TJ434tDCzKI\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2011,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2011","url_meta":{"origin":3250,"position":1},"title":"Proposed changes to textbook selection process","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"State Sen. Alan Hays filed a bill that will change the way textbooks are selected in Florida. If approved, the bill would give local school boards full control over the process and the state Department of Education would have no role. The Gradebook blog notes the bill's filing: Florida senator\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2011#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3435,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3435","url_meta":{"origin":3250,"position":2},"title":"New Instructional Materials bill includes “controversial issues” requirement","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A bill filed Friday in the Florida Legislature, House Bill 855, proposes making a slew of changes to instructional materials laws, tackling issues like pornography and sex education. Science is not directly mentioned in the bill, but there are two sections that can definitely impact science materials. One proposal is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3147,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3147","url_meta":{"origin":3250,"position":3},"title":"The Florida House’s bad textbook bill now has a Senate companion","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida House Bill 827 (Instructional Materials), filed in November by Rep. Byron Donalds in preparation for the 2018 state legislative session proposes changes to several of our laws that govern the review and selection of instructional materials used in our public schools. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a Senate companion bill for\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":2725,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2725","url_meta":{"origin":3250,"position":4},"title":"Creationist-enabling bill passes; what can you do now?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Florida Citizens for Science membership is dismayed that House Bill 989, a proposed law that will affect how instructional materials for our schools are selected and challenged, passed its final vote in the Senate 19 to 17. We believe that should this bill become law with the governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s signature,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/textbookskulls-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3274,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3274","url_meta":{"origin":3250,"position":5},"title":"Press Release: Balancing Evolution & Creationism in Schools Unconstitutional","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science News Release (May 13, 2018) --------------------------------------------- BALANCING EVOLUTION AND CREATIONISM IN SCHOOLS UNCONSTITUTIONAL Attempts to alter science textbooks in Collier, Martin and Nassau Counties are a waste of school boards\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 time, money and could lead to costly lawsuits --------------------------------------------- Contact: Brandon Haught \/\u00c2\u00a0bhaught@flascience.org \/ www.flascience.org Citizens\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250"}],"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=3250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3253,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions\/3253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}