{"id":418,"date":"2008-02-01T17:44:57","date_gmt":"2008-02-01T22:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=418"},"modified":"2008-08-06T10:39:24","modified_gmt":"2008-08-06T14:39:24","slug":"loose-lips-and-all-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=418","title":{"rendered":"Loose lips and all that"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Florida Citizens for Science membership has been debating the authority of one school district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s order for its science teachers to stay mum when it comes to the media calling and asking about evolution. The Gradebook<\/a> mentions that St. Petersburg Times reporters have been trying to collect teachers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 opinions about evolution in the classroom. Seminole County didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like all that snooping and so issued the following notice:<\/p>\n

It has come to our attention that press calls are being made to some schools regarding the question of teaching evolution in our schools.<\/p>\n

Please remind your staff members, who may be contacted, that if they receive calls they are to be referred to the district office, specifically to my office. This question is a district issue, not one to which individuals should respond. We are aware that the St. Petersburg Times is currently making some random calls.<\/p>\n

Previously, when I was contacted by the media concerning this question, I responded: It is the official position of the administration that is responsible for making curriculum decisions that the science curriculum of Seminole County Public Schools is aligned with the Sunshine State Standards and meets the requirements of law. No discussion beyond that statement is held.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If a teacher wants to speak with a reporter after school hours, off of school property and makes it clear he or she is not speaking on behalf of the school district, can the school district stop the teacher? If I understand correctly, the reporter in this specific case wants to hear from teachers about personal experiences when in a classroom full of kids. Provided the interview is not about general policy, what is the problem with relating personal anecdotes?<\/p>\n

Quite a few FCS members have said that the teacher should be able to speak under the above outlined circumstances, but that doing so could still result in an uncomfortable working environment. Maybe the teacher won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be formally disciplined, but some FCS members have made it clear that there are plenty of other ways to make a teacher feel the heat, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Florida Citizens for Science membership has been debating the authority of one school district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s order for its science teachers to stay mum when it comes to the media calling and asking about evolution. The Gradebook mentions that St. Petersburg … 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":[2,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-6K","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1214,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1214","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":0},"title":"Details on Pasco school board races","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"August 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In a \"know your candidates\" feature at the St. Petersburg Times website, school board candidates were asked several questions, one of them being: \"Should schools teach creationism in science?\" District 3 candidates said: Cynthia Armstrong \"I do not believe that creationism has a place in the science curriculum.\" Mike Ryan\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1214#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":167,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=167","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":1},"title":"Interview with Wesley Elsberry","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I had written a college paper on the subject of introducing intelligent design into the public school classroom. For that paper I had to do some primary research, which involved either an interview with a subject expert or a survey. I opted for an interview and I chose Wesley Elsberry\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":2798,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2798","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":2},"title":"Be informed. Be active.","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There are two new laws here in Florida that will potentially impact science education in detrimental ways. I'm, of course, talking about the Instructional Materials law and the Religious Expression in Schools law. Florida Citizens for Science has been in the trenches fighting these harmful laws for quite a while.\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":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3274,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3274","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":1614,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1614","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":4},"title":"Kendall doesn’t disappoint","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Kim Kendall was a significant voice against the teaching of sound science in 2008. She polished her growing activism skills on a determined fight against the teaching of evolution when the state science standards were being revised and approved. Failing in her efforts there, she moved on to the state\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 9 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 9 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1614#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":153,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=153","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":5},"title":"Essay: Battle for Evolution","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of Darwin Day, I'm posting here an essay I recently did for a college class.\u00c2\u00a0I'm happy because just last week I got the grade back on it, and it was real good! Enjoy.\u00c2\u00a0 The Battle for Evolution in Public Schools Scientists today and throughout history are no strangers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "beekay's college"","block_context":{"text":"beekay's college","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418"}],"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=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}