In elections yesterday, the voters of Dover, PA elected eight new school board members who support science education. Seven incumbents who support anti-evolutionary education lost reelection.

The Panda’s Thumb has more information.

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You can still view our old site at http://ww2.georgiascience.org/.

Local citizens for science have formed two new groups, one in Pennsylvania and another in Iowa.

Citizens for science in Maryland, DC/Virginia, and Minnesota are also considering organizing.

The trial in Pennsylvania over the teaching of intelligent design has started this week. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been covering it.

‘Intelligent design’ rule faces court test today

Trial Over ‘Intelligent Design’ Resumes

Intelligent design suit inspired by local man’s ideas

Critics say ["intelligent design"] is untestable pseudo-science and bad theology. Intelligent design was proposed by English theologian William Paley in 1802, said Sarah Pallas, associate professor of biology at Georgia State University. “That was all debunked at that time. Now the intelligent design people are resurrecting this idea.”

The National Center for Science Education also has coverage of the trial.

If you want a look at the history of the case, you can find it at The Panda’s Thumb.

• 12/05 Cobb County case to be heard before 11th circuit appeals court.
• 5/24/05 Stickers are removed from textbooks in Cobb County at an estimated cost of $25,000 as the County continues to wait for its appeal.
• 2/18/05 Appeals Court calls for mediation to determine when stickers will be removed from books.
• 1/17/05 Cobb County Board of Education voted to appeal the U.S. District Court ruling.
• 1/13/05 U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper ruled today that Cobb County’s school board had violated the constitutional ban on the separation of church and state when it put the disclaimers on biology books in 2002.
• 11/8/04 Six Cobb County parents have brought a suit in Federal court to remove the stickers from Biology textbooks. For more information on the stickers see the News Archive. Closing arguments have been heard. The judge’s decision is being awaited.
• 7/13/04 The changes to the Science curriculum has been approved. Thanks to pressure from parents, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jimmy Carter, and GCISE, evolution and other AAAS benchmarks are included in the new curriculum.
• 5/13/04 The new Georgia Performance Standards for the school science curriculum have been released and are available for viewing at http://georgiastandards.org/science.asp
• The period for online comments on the curriculum will end June 10. Go to http://www.georgiastandards.org/science.asp to voice your opinion.
• as of 2/22/04 The State Board of Education re-inserted the sections of the AAAS standards related to evolution and the age of the earth that were initially deleted. State officials also agreed to consider reinserting other scientic theories that were dropped such as the Big-Bang theory for the origin of the universe. The revised standards are available to view at http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/spotlight/gps2.htm or at http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/curriculum/instruction/qcc/portal.asp

  A comparison of the Georgia teaching standards to the original AAAS standards was made by GCISE member Reed Cartwright. You can see the comparison at: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~rac/gabiostds.html (updated 2/27/04)

• as of 2/12/04 The State Board of Education is in the process of revising the curriculum for elementary and secondary schools. The standards for science education were based on benchmarks established by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). However, there were important key ommissions. The most blatant was that the word “evolution” was replaced with “Biological changes over time”. Other key scientific concepts such as the age of the earth, plate tectonics, and the effect of humans on the environment were also dropped. Thanks to pressure from GCISE and other scientific and education organizations, as well as the general public, the State School Superintent, Kathy Cox, agreed to restore the word evolution, but not the other missing concepts.

By Kristina Torres 5/24/05
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Amir Mirsajedin did his work quietly Monday. No scientist heralded him. No judge applauded. No creationist peered over his shoulder.

Then again, the stickers didn’t put up much of a fight as Mirsajedin and 13 others began removing them from Cobb County’s textbooks. Is evolution “a theory, not a fact,” as the disclaimer printed on the stickers says? Within a matter of weeks, no student here will be able to point to that crib note stuck by the school board onto the inside of the textbooks’ front cover.

Stickers that say evolution is a theory, not a fact, were being cut out of Cobb County textbooks Monday. A judge ordered the removal, ruling the stickers had an implicit religious message.

By Kristina Torres
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/18/05

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has asked both sides in the Cobb County evolution disclaimers case to meet with a mediator March 1.

The step is an intermediate one as the county school board appeals a federal court ruling banning disclaimers on textbooks that call evolution “a theory, not a fact.”

The court’s request surprised neither Michael Manely, who represents parents who want the disclaimers removed, nor Linwood Gunn, who represents the school board. The two lawyers don’t expect it to come to much, either.

Laura Diamond
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, February 13, 2005

If Georgia wants to improve students’ understanding of science, experts say, the state is going to have to change the way it teaches science. The subject will need to be made more relevant to students and taught by those who have a deep understanding of it. And attitudes toward science will have to change.

“We have to get over this prejudice against science that it is a hard subject that many students will struggle with,” said Ken Townsel, middle school science coordinator for DeKalb County schools. “The younger we reach children, the younger we get them interested and excited about science, the better we will be.”

By Kristina Torres
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/19/05

Cobb County’s appeal of a federal court ruling banning disclaimers about evolution likely will center on one question: Can someone reasonably assume the stickers in science textbooks convey a religious message when they don’t mention religion at all?

U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper ruled last week that the disclaimers convey an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. But Cobb school board attorney Linwood Gunn said Tuesday that Cooper also noted in his ruling that board members didn’t intend to promote religion in 2002, when they adopted the disclaimers. The disclaimers call evolution “a theory, not a fact.”

In other words, board members don’t think the judge got his story straight, so it’s on to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

By Bill Rankin, Kristina Torres
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/13/05

A federal judge in Atlanta has declared unconstitutional the evolution disclaimers placed inside science text books by the Cobb County school system and ordered the “stickers” removed immediately.

In a ruling issued today, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said the stickers, which call evolution “a theory, not a fact,” violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“Adopted by the school board, funded by the money of taxpayers, and inserted by school personnel, the sticker conveys an impermissible message of endorsement and tells some citizens that they are political outsiders while telling others they are political insiders,” Cooper wrote in a 44-page decision. The stickers send “a message that the school board agrees with the beliefs of Christian fundamentalists and creationists,” Cooper said. “The school board has effectively improperly entangled itself with religion by appearing to take a position. Therefore, the sticker must be removed from all of the textbooks into which it has been placed.”