{"id":593,"date":"2008-05-24T11:16:36","date_gmt":"2008-05-24T15:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=593"},"modified":"2008-08-06T21:56:34","modified_gmt":"2008-08-07T01:56:34","slug":"and-you-thought-we-had-it-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=593","title":{"rendered":"And you thought we had it bad"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a long, drawn-out fight here in Florida to get a good set of science standards written and adopted, and then to quickly switch over to fighting nefarious anti-science bills in the Florida legislature. As exhausting as that was, I would take it any day over what Texas is going through<\/a> … with their English and reading standards!<\/p>\n

AUSTIN \u00e2\u20ac\u201c The State Board of Education’s debate on new English and reading standards took another rowdy turn Friday as members approved a never-before-seen version of the lengthy document which materialized less than an hour before the board was to take a final vote.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“I find it’s really wild that we can work for three years on a project and then the board is so qualified they can pull it out of their hat overnight,” said board member Pat Hardy, a Fort Worth Republican who, like other board members, received the substituted document when it was slipped under her hotel door less than an hour before their meeting was set to convene Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Some social conservatives on the board prepared the latest version overnight.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“How am I supposed to vote on a document when I’ve had it in my hands for slightly over an hour?” asked angered board member Mary Helen Berlanga, a Democrat from Corpus Christi. “How are we supposed to reply to our constituents? I don’t understand that. I can’t support a document that I haven’t had a chance to read.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

After first saying he would not give board members time to go over the new document during the meeting, Chairman Don McLeroy, a Republican from College Station, eventually relented, allowing a quick run through of the new document with an explanation of the changes.<\/p>\n

But the squabbling did not end there.<\/p>\n

“Mr. Chair you’re going so fast … you’re moving so fast we can’t find it in the other document,” Berlanga said, shortly after the page-by-page explanation began.<\/p>\n

After more complaints, McLeroy declared that he would continue at the fast pace.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wow! An all out war over English and reading standards. That’s just mind-blowing. But wait, there’s more:<\/p>\n

Science curriculum, which includes the divisive teaching of evolution, is next up for review by the board.<\/p>\n

“It does not bode well for any of us with the science (curriculum) review coming up,” Canaday said. “Everyone I spoke to about this week’s meetings asked me why on earth would English be considered a controversial subject. If it’s this difficult to change the English curriculum, it’s just going to be a war when it comes time for them to try to agree on science standards.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a long, drawn-out fight here in Florida to get a good set of science standards written and adopted, and then to quickly switch over to fighting nefarious anti-science bills in the Florida legislature. As exhausting as that was, … 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":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-9z","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":352,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=352","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":0},"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":336,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=336","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":1},"title":"It’s hitting the fan now","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The issue of evolution in the state science standards, and the fate of those standards because of evolution, made the headlines today. Florida Citizens for Science members and the National Center for Science Education were very busy yesterday with interviews for these stories. The main strategy being used here by\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":479,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=479","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":2},"title":"Florida won!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida won! Science education won! Teachers, students, Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future economy, etc. all won! No, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a clean victory, but it was a victory nonetheless. On a vote of 4 to 3 the new state science standards passed, with modifications. Those modifications include the insertion of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153scientific theory of\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and\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":377,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=377","url_meta":{"origin":593,"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":295,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=295","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":4},"title":"Go … comment … now!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The new draft of the Florida science standards is up and ready for public comment. Please head over there, read through the standards and give 'em some support! You will be able to rate each benchmark and leave comments for the standards writers so that they can correct errors and\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":337,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=337","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":5},"title":"Call to Action project","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We need your help! Florida Citizens for Science has launched a \"call to action\" project: All I Want for Christmas is a Good Science Education. Since the holiday season is upon us, why not spread an educational message along with your Christmas cheer? We need to let the Florida Board\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593"}],"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=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}