{"id":386,"date":"2008-01-13T15:11:50","date_gmt":"2008-01-13T20:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=386"},"modified":"2008-08-05T21:04:55","modified_gmt":"2008-08-06T01:04:55","slug":"dixie-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=386","title":{"rendered":"Dixie County?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dixie County Advocate’s<\/a> website is painful to navigate. But if you have the patience, you can venture to the Dec. 20 issue and see a column on page 12 written by Dixie County School Superintendent, Dennis Bennett.<\/p>\n

The State is in the process of developing and approving changes to its science standards to follow Darwin’s theory of evolution. The standards that are approved by the State Board of Education would be taught in every grade level and tested in the eleventh and twelfth grades.<\/p>\n

Darwin’s theory of evolution has been discussed in our school science classes for a long time as one theory of how organisms have developed over time. But the concern now is that the state is developing an “evolution exclusive” curriculum. Because we live in democracy, our schools have always been able to present differing ideas, concepts, and theories to generate open minded discussions to gather a wide scope of information.<\/p>\n

Donna Callaway, a member of the State Board of Education sparked a fury of debate recently with her comments to a newspaper. She told the newspaper that evolution should be taught but not “to the exclusion of other theories of the origins of life.”<\/p>\n

Many scientists agree that the theory of evolution has so many unanswered unproven questions that it can’t be proven. Many scientists say that Intelligent Design, another concept has merit and warrants discussion because organisms can’t develop unless they have all components for life in place and in order. There is intelligence in the design of all organisms. If you take any part of the design out, the organism does not develop.<\/p>\n

Parents from Jacksonville recently traveled 200 miles to meet with the State Board, but were not allowed to speak. The State Board also declined to address the evolution education issue at that meeting.<\/p>\n

What our district wants the public to know is once the State Board of Education sets the standards to be taught, schools will be expected to teach them. We know that many citizens are very concerned about this issue. The State Board of Education should hear from these concerns before they decide the science curriculum for the entire state. If you are concerned about the “evolution exclusive” curriculum being taught in our schools, you may contact the Florida Commissioner of Education at Commissioner@fldoe.org or (850)245-0605 or the State Board of Education Chairman, Willard Fair at (305)696-4450. For additional State Board of Education contact information, the website address is http:\/\/www.fldoe.org\/board\/.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Dixie County School District website<\/a> isn’t too advanced either. School board agendas and meeting minutes are not available there. Does anyone have some time to contact the school district to find out if they have acted on any of their superintendent’s beliefs concerning evolution?<\/p>\n

For a comprehensive look at what counties and education decision makers are up to concerning evolution in the state science standards, see our “Those not in favor of good science education, raise your hand<\/a>” post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dixie County Advocate’s website is painful to navigate. But if you have the patience, you can venture to the Dec. 20 issue and see a column on page 12 written by Dixie County School Superintendent, Dennis Bennett. The State … 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":[7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-6e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":407,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=407","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":0},"title":"Washington County: school board #9 on the anti-evolution train","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington County school board -- yes, another county in North Florida -- is apparently the latest school board to adopt an anti-evolution resolution. Unfortunately, the school system website doesn't list board meeting agendas anywhere that I could find. I found out about the resolution through one of my regular\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":303,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=303","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":1},"title":"4th editorial supports evolution","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We're definitely on a roll. An editorial in the Orlando Sentinel states that evolution belongs in the state's science standards. It's taken seven years, but Florida is on its way to developing a science curriculum for the new millennium -- one that requires teachers openly and vigorously to teach about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":315,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=315","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":2},"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":361,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=361","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":3},"title":"Yet another editorial in favor of evolution","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The St. Petersburg Times uses the Dover, Pa. intelligent design trial as a springboard to scolding the Pinellas County school board in an editorial. As the judge found, \"every scientific association that has spoken on the matter\" has rejected the challenge to evolution mounted by proponents of intelligent design. Darwin's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":352,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=352","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":4},"title":"Those not in favor of good science education, raise your hand.","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"[I will bump this post up about once a week so as to always be on the front page. Latest bump: Feb. 15.] For your convenience, here is a list of the 12 counties that passed anti-evolution resolutions: Clay, Jackson, Baker, Hamilton, Holmes, St. Johns, Taylor, Madison, Lafayette, Nassau, Washington,\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":426,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=426","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":5},"title":"Another columnist in support of evolution","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Tallahassee Democrat columnist Gerald Ensley encourages his readers to attend the local Darwin Day celebration where they will, hopefully, learn a thing or two about evolution. Florida, Illinois and Oklahoma are the only three states that currently do not teach evolution. The omission is one of the chief reasons Florida's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386"}],"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=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}