{"id":3359,"date":"2018-09-03T15:52:45","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T19:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3359"},"modified":"2018-09-03T15:52:45","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T19:52:45","slug":"school-boards-election-fallout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3359","title":{"rendered":"School Boards Election Fallout"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve had some interesting times this year putting out fires concerning evolution and climate change in new science textbooks up for adoption in a few Florida school districts. Did those experiences impact school board elections in those counties? Of course, there were many other issues voters had on their minds, but perhaps battles over science education were on those lists of issues. Let’s take a look at what happened.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Collier County<\/strong>: Four citizens had filed 220 objections to the textbooks and cited in their written objections filed with the school district many creationist sources but then claimed during the hearing that their complaints had nothing to do with religion. The marathon five-hour hearing and board member deliberation (June 18, 2018) eventually resulted in a narrow 3-2 vote in favor of adopting new science textbooks without any alterations or supplemental materials. One school board member on the losing side claimed that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay for the concept of intelligent design to be taught in science classrooms and the other school board member who voted no accused the books of pushing a political agenda concerning climate change. Election Update<\/strong>: Both of those who voted no to the science textbooks are now gone:\u00c2\u00a0Roy Terry and Jen Mitchell elected to Collier County School Board<\/a><\/p>\n

Throughout their four-year terms, [Kelly] Lichter and [Erika] Donalds have brought a conservative perspective to the board; they pushed for the district to share capital funding with charter schools and backed a group of far-right education advocates in their mission to rid schools of textbooks they said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153indoctrinate\u00e2\u20ac\u009d students with lessons about Islam, evolution and human-induced climate change.<\/p>\n

Their views have often put them on the losing side of 3-2 votes. The pair\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s replacements, Westberry and Mitchell, however, have far less conservative views that are more in line with the rest of the board, and their election will likely bring about a string of unanimous votes.<\/p>\n

Though the political battle over the local School Board may be over for now, the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ultraconservative groups are refocusing their efforts on the state, and Collier board members may be forced to reckon with state legislation they disagree with.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Martin County:<\/strong> School board member Rebecca Negron spent more than half an hour at the June 5 board meeting attempting to dazzle the audience with endless quotes that appeared to show scientists versus scientists arguing over the validity of evolution. She did this in an attempt to convince everyone that the science textbooks under consideration for purchase violate Florida statute that requires the books be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153accurate, objective, and balanced.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d How can the books be accurate and balanced if so many \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evolutionists\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (she kept on pointing out these quotes came from scientists and evolutionists) were refuting what was in the high school science textbooks? Election Update:<\/strong> Negron is out:\u00c2\u00a0Retired educator Victoria Defenthaler wins seat on Martin County School Board<\/a><\/p>\n

Victoria Defenthaler defeated incumbent Rebecca Negron in a School Board race clouded by attack ads funneled into Martin County from outside the region.<\/p>\n

Defenthaler, a retired educator, raised and spent more during her campaign, but one political action committee alone threw nearly $31,000 more into a massive mailing on Negron’s behalf.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Clay County:<\/strong> School board member Ashley Gilhousen protested during a board meeting: “But my difficulty lies in the narrow scope as it relates to the theory of human and species origin in that the only theory mentioned is evolution. And all that is expected for students to know is its supporting evidence and none of its flaws. At best, this limited level of exposure for students to the highly contested views on the origin of life and species is negligent. At the worst it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intellectually deceptive.” Election Update:<\/strong> Gilhousen is in a runoff:\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe real winners are the children of Clay County\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bullock teamed up on the campaign trail with incumbent Janice Kerekes and political newcomer Lynne Hirabayashi Chafee under the moniker of JLT. Chafee, a Guardian ad Litem children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advocate, will be in a runoff in November with first-term District 5 school board member incumbent Ashley Gilhousen, the top two vote getters in a three-way race. Gilhousen received 18,397 votes, Chafee received 11,134 and Travis Christensen received 8,158.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interesting results, don’t you think? Have you kept an eye on your own local school board elections? Let us know if you have any concerns so that we can keep an eye on them!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve had some interesting times this year putting out fires concerning evolution and climate change in new science textbooks up for adoption in a few Florida school districts. Did those experiences impact school board elections in those counties? Of course, … 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":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-Sb","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3315,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3315","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":0},"title":"What I did during my summer break, Collier County edition","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start with the end. Evolution and climate change will remain unmolested in new science textbooks approved by the Collier County school board Monday night. The close 3-2 vote in favor of the textbooks came after a marathon five-hour textbook hearing and school board deliberation. For once, I was able\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3315#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/collier-flaugh-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3322,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3322","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":1},"title":"News Roundup","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a quick roundup of recent news articles associated with current events Florida Citizens for Science has been involved in. Orlando Sentinel: Director stands up for his Christian voucher schools The director of three private Christian schools that accept state scholarships takes issue with Sentinel columnist Lauren Ritchie who\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3322#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3506,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3506","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":2},"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":3270,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3270","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":3},"title":"Collier County science textbook objections: “You profess to be a Christian”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Science textbooks are still an issue here in Florida. Many school districts are working their way through the lengthy process of reviewing and adopting new science books for their classrooms. And there are still a few hot spots of controversy that we need to keep an eye on. For instance:\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":3210,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3210","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":4},"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":3301,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3301","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":5},"title":"Martin County textbook complaints: “scientific sounding language” fails to impress","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A hearing was held on May 9 after several Martin County residents complained about the \"one-sided\" nature of science textbooks the school board was in the process of adopting. I gave a very detailed account of what happened at the hearing:\u00c2\u00a0Martin County textbook hearing: Evolution \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is not proven science\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. For\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3301#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359"}],"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=3359"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3360,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359\/revisions\/3360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}