by MARTHA RAFFAELE, Associated Press Writer
HARRISBURG, Pa. - A school district that required science teachers to
read a statement about alternatives to the theory of evolution decided Friday
that teachers can choose not to read it, but their classes will still hear it.
Under the Dover Area School District's temporary exemption, administrators
will read the statement when science teachers object to doing so. Students
can be excused from having to listen if their parents object, according to a
letter posted on the school district's Web site.
The district is believed to be the only one in the nation that required science
teachers to mention "intelligent design" — a concept that holds the universe
is so complex it must have been created by some higher power.
The curriculum language originally approved by the school board in October
said biology students must be "made aware of gaps/problems in Darwin's
theory and other theories of evolution, including but not limited to intelligent
design."
In November, however, the board said teachers would read a statement on
intelligent design. Seven teachers had protested the required reading, saying it
would violate the state's professional code for teachers.
Tom Scott, an attorney representing the Pennsylvania State Education
Association, said the teachers' union was satisfied with the decision. He said
teachers had objected because intelligent design "is not science."
"Unfortunately, the school board and the superintendent can put anything
they want to in front of the students, but we are not going to be their
messenger," Scott said.
School officials declined to comment, citing a pending federal lawsuit filed by
eight families over the science curriculum.
"The Dover faculty have no right to opt out of a legal directive," said Richard
Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center in
Ann Arbor, Mich., which is defending the school district. "Having said that,
because there is pending litigation ... we are going to accommodate their
request."
Only one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Tammy Kitzmiller, is the parent of a
ninth-grade student who would be affected by the policy. Kitzmiller did not
return a call seeking comment Friday, but in a deposition for the lawsuit, she
said she didn't want her daughter to have to leave class.
"She shouldn't need to be singled out of the classroom," Kitzmiller said.
Civil-liberties groups allege intelligent design is merely a secular variation of
creationism, the biblical-based view that regards God as the creator of life.
They maintain the Dover district's curriculum mandate violates the
constitutional separation of church and state.
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