Board to discuss issue in science curriculum

The federal judge's decision in Pennsylvania does not apply to Ohio.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Members of the State Board of Education must reopen a debate on language in Ohio schools' science curriculum that allows critical analysis of evolution or face a vote on its removal, an opponent of teaching the analysis said Monday.
Board member Martha Wise said she would offer a motion to remove the language from the science lesson plan and state science standards at today's meeting unless the board takes other action before the meeting.
Wise, who represents northern Ohio, offered a similar motion at the board's Jan. 10 meeting that was defeated 9-8.
Virgil Brown Jr., one of two board members absent from last month's meeting, does not support the teaching of evolution analysis, sometimes referred to as intelligent design. However, he said that he would not decide how to vote on any motion until he had read it.
He said both sides of the issue were trying to agree on how to proceed. A message seeking comment was left for Sue Westendorf, the board's president, who voted against removing the critical analysis language last month.
Options to scrapping the language include seeking an opinion from Attorney General Jim Petro and putting off a vote until next month to encourage further discussion, Wise said.
"I am a creationist. I believe both sides of this issue, but I believe science should be taught," said Wise, a board member for 28 years.
What happened in Pa.
In December, a federal judge ruled that Dover, Pa., students couldn't be taught intelligent design, the theory that an unspecified higher power designed life. The judge found that intelligent design was creationism and the school board's decision to include it in its science curriculum violated the U.S. Constitution.
The decision does not apply in Ohio, but critics of state standards say it invites a similar legal challenge. Gov. Bob Taft recommended a legal review even though he has said the guidelines should not include intelligent design.
Proponents of the plan say they want both sides of the theory of evolution offered to students and are not trying to sneak intelligent design into Ohio's classrooms.
A lawyer who helped parents fight a Pennsylvania school board's science curriculum said Ohio's standards threaten religious freedom by calling for the critical analysis of evolution.
"When you see 'critical analysis of evolution,' you really need to look at what's behind that. Who? Why?" Eric Rothschild, of Philadelphia, said. "Why is there this need for critical analysis of evolution? Why is there no call for critical analysis of plate tectonics?"