{"id":402,"date":"2008-01-21T14:10:13","date_gmt":"2008-01-21T19:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=402"},"modified":"2008-07-17T13:48:44","modified_gmt":"2008-07-17T17:48:44","slug":"another-resolution-slipped-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=402","title":{"rendered":"Another resolution slipped in"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madison County school district doesn’t post agendas or minutes to their website<\/a> that I could find. However, a commenter at Scott Hatfield’s Monkey Trials blog<\/a> was kind enough to inform everyone that Madison County did actually pass an anti-evolution resolution recently. Sure enough, the local newspaper, the Madison County Carrier <\/a>says the following (full story copied here because it doesn’t look like the paper archives the stories online once the new edition is published).<\/p>\n

Textbook Teaches Evolution As FACT, Not Theory
\nBy Michael Curtis
\nGreene Publishing, Inc.<\/p>\n

The following statements are taken from the Resolution unanimously adopted by the Madison County School Board during their meeting on January 14. It is directed to the Sunshine State Standards for Science.<\/p>\n

RESOLUTION
\nWhereas, the Florida Department of Education has drafted and is now proposing new Sunshine State Standards for Science, the Madison County School Board opposes the implementation of the new standards as currently presented.<\/p>\n

Whereas, the new Sunshine State Standards for Science no longer present evolution as theory but as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the fundamental concept underlying all of biology and is supported in multiple forms of scientific evidence,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we are requesting that the State Board of Education direct the Florida Department of Education to revise\/edit the new Sunshine State Standards for Science so that evolution is presented as one of several theories as to how the universe was formed.<\/p>\n

Whereas, the Madison County School Board recognizes the importance of providing a thorough and comprehensive Science education to all the students in Madison County and to all students in the state of Florida, it recognizes as even more important the need to present these standards through a fair and balanced approach, an approach that does not unfairly exclude other theories as to the creation of the universe.<\/p>\n

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Madison County School Board, Madison, Florida, that the Board urges the State Board of Education to direct the Florida Department of Education to revise the new Sunshine State Standards for Science such that evolution is not presented as fact, but as one of several theories.<\/p>\n

According to the State Department of Education, Executive Director Mary Jane Tappan of the Office of Math and Science facilitated two December and two January meetings to get public comment on the changes. Unfortunately, most missed the initial invitation because the announcement and advertisement of the meetings, which were held in Tallahassee, Orlando, Jacksonville and Miramar, was limited to the Florida Administrative Weekly, an online publication virtually unknown to the public that is used mostly for legal notification of pending governmental actions.<\/p>\n

Following the first two meetings, accusations were levied that the DOE was attempting to sneak this very controversial issue by the public by limiting the announcement, so prior to the last two meetings the DOE put advertisements in the Jacksonville and Ft. Lauderdale papers. There was no specific mention of the new introduction or definition regarding evolution; so many are now scrambling to have their voices heard on the issue since the changes are not yet official.<\/p>\n

The State Board of Education still has to approve the changes, which will be included in their meeting on February 19, location and time to be announced two weeks prior. Historically, Board Chairman T. Willard Fair has allowed public input, although policy does not require it. For those wishing to be heard, State School Board Member contact information is available at www.fldoe.org\/board and the Florida Department of Education phone number is (850) 245-0505. Staff writer Michael Curtis can be reached at michael@greenepublishing.com.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gotta love how the writer made no attempt to be impartial here. No real reporting needed in Madison County, I guess.<\/p>\n

By my count, that makes eight confirmed anti-evolution resolutions passed, and one pending. Read through our list<\/a> to make sure my count is right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madison County school district doesn’t post agendas or minutes to their website that I could find. However, a commenter at Scott Hatfield’s Monkey Trials blog was kind enough to inform everyone that Madison County did actually pass an anti-evolution resolution … 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":[3,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-6u","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":407,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=407","url_meta":{"origin":402,"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":352,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=352","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":1},"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":381,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=381","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":2},"title":"Two more resolutions","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"[this post updated with a third county for a total of six so far] I've been doing a methodical search of school district websites for any information that might reveal more school boards issuing anti-evolution resolutions like Taylor, Baker and Holmes did. (Previous post about: possibility of 12 total counties\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":377,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=377","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":3},"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":396,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=396","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":4},"title":"Nassau and Jackson counties","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I was in a hurry when I posted about the news article this morning about some more counties passing or considering anti-evolution resolutions, so I couldn't do any research concerning the counties mentioned in the story. Now that I have a little bit of time, let's see what we can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Science Standards"","block_context":{"text":"Our Science Standards","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":379,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=379","url_meta":{"origin":402,"position":5},"title":"Breathtaking inanity","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm embarrassed. Sure, the Taylor County school board was apparently the first to pass a resolution complaining about evolution (previous post here), but they're not the only one. Two more counties passed resolutions, too: Baker County and Holmes County. The Baker County board meeting minutes from Dec. 17 say on\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\/402"}],"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=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}