Recently in Assault on Education Category

Given some dispute and confusion in comments earlier, I asked Ken Lane, an attorney friend of mine who has considerable prosecutorial and civil law experience, especially in legal issues associated with local governments and administrative agencies, to write a paragraph or two on the role of appellate courts in cases like Freshwater’s appeal of his termination by the Mt. Vernon City Schools Board of Education. His excellent and helpful response is below the fold.

I’ve learned that leave has been granted for acceptance of the amicus briefs from the Dennis family and NCSE. The briefs in the case are now complete (see NCSE’s compilation). I’m told that Freshwater requested an expedited hearing, meaning that only the initially submitted briefs–plaintiff’s, defendant’s, and the two amicus briefs–will be in play. The case has been submitted to the appeals court where it will be heard by a three judge panel. They may or may not schedule oral arguments. If they do, I’ll try to be there.

The governor of Kentucky plans budget cuts of $350 million over two years, including $50 million from public education and substantial cuts to higher education – but has managed to find $11 million to build an interchange to a phantasmical Ark Park, according to LEO Weekly, a Louisville alternative newspaper. Presumably the interchange, which will connect to a 1-mile road between Interstate 75 and a town of 3500, will go to roughly the same place as the Bridge to Nowhere or one of its brethren.

The governor, Steve Beshear, reportedly understands that his state “struggles due to the lack of an educated labor force” and admits that his proposed budget “is inadequate for the future needs of our people.” Maybe he should read a recent editorial in Science magazine and ponder whether the poor performance of US students in science and mathematics can be traced to politicians who cut education budgets and pander to anti-scientific crackpots.

Update: The Dennis family’s amicus brief is now up on NCSE.com.

The two main briefs in John Freshwater’s appeal of the Knox County Court of Common Pleas’ decision to uphold Freshwater’s termination by the Mt. Vernon Board of Education are now up on NCSE’s site. The two amicus briefs, from NCSE and the Dennis family, have not yet been accepted by the court. NCSE’s brief is on the site linked above; the Dennis’ brief is not yet available online, though I’ve read a copy.

I’ll briefly (!) summarize what I see as the core arguments of the briefs here, and go into more detail below the fold.

Freshwater’s appeal brief: Basically argues that (a) Freshwater only taught “alternative scientific theories”, (b) there are good pedagogical reasons to do so, and (c) he has free speech and academic freedom rights to do so. Also argues that the moves against Freshwater are motivated by religious animus, though it’s silent about specifically who feels that animus.

Board’s response brief: Argues that because student attendance is required and the public school has an interest in protecting itself against the consequences of illegal actions by teachers, Freshwater, as an agent and employee of the public school, does not have unfettered free speech or academic freedom rights. Also argues that the Common Pleas court did not abuse its discretion when it elected to not hold public hearings in view of the extensive record generated by the administrative hearing.

NCSE amicus brief: Puts Freshwater’s behavior in the context of the history of attempts to teach creationism in the public schools, and argues that his teaching was both pedagogically and scientifically unsound.

Dennis family brief: Reviews Freshwater’s impermissible injection of religion into his teaching, and disputes his de-emphasis of the Tesla coil incident, pointing out the inconsistencies in Freshwater’s stories about the incident.

The case is not yet scheduled for oral arguments. I’m told that Freshwater requested an expedited hearing, which I understand means that there will be no back-and-forth, no rebuttals and rejoinders, in the paperwork. What’s there now is what the appeals court will use to make its decision.

Some remarks and elaborations below the fold

As I reported a month ago, the Rutherford Institute, acting on behalf of John Freshwater, appealed Judge Otho Eyster’s decision in the Court of Common Pleas to the Ohio 5^th District Court of Appeals. Eyster ruled that the Mt. Vernon Board of Education’s termination of Freshwater was justified on the evidence of the administrative hearing.

Now additional documents are becoming available. The first to be publicly available is NCSE’s amicus brief (pdf). Yet to come are an amicus brief being filed by the Dennis family and the school board’s brief. The deadline for filing is today, January 13, and I expect that final copies will be publicly available soon. When they are I’ll write a longer post summarizing them after I have a chance to read them all.

The case is not yet scheduled for oral arguments before the Court of Appeals. The Court’s schedule is published through February, 2012.

Here’s a new video from NCSE that features Genie Scott talking about the latest theme/tactic of creationists, “academic freedom” (for which one could substitute “academic anarchy” with no loss of meaning).

Hat tip to Greg Laden.

The superintendent of schools of Hart County, a small county in the middle of Kentucky, has written to the Kentucky Board of Education, complaining about the emphasis on evolution. Specifically, Ricky Line, the superintendent, writes in a long and somewhat rambling letter,

In spite of adverse outcomes in the administrative hearing on his termination, in federal court, and in the County Court of Common pleas, John Freshwater is still pleading his case in the Christian media. On November 30, he was interviewed on David Barton’s Wallbuilders Live radio program. Ed Brayton has posted on some aspects of that interview, as has Wheat-dogg’s World.

My interest is in what Freshwater now says he was teaching about creationism and evolution in his 8^th grade science classes as contrasted with what he has claimed in the past. There was a good deal of testimony about that in the administrative hearing on his termination. His stories ranged from ‘I didn’t teach creationism’ (see his testimony here) to ‘I may have used creationist materials, but it was to illustrate bias and lack of objectivity in the interpretation of good science’ (see his testimony here). Now he has a new version: he taught “robust evolution.”

More below the fold.

Mt. Vernon, Ohio, as most PT readers know, has been the site of three years of legal maneuvering over John Freshwater. As a consequence of that, several creationists are running for school board here. There are three vacancies with six candidates, including two incumbents who voted to terminate Freshwater. One candidate is Steve Kelly, an official with the local Salvation Army.

Kelly is obviously a creationist. In an email response to a questioner, he wrote

I do not believe that the opening chapters of the book of Genesis belong in a science classroom. I do, however, believe that there is considerable scientific evidence that challenges the assumptions of the old-earth/evolutionary model. There is also significant scientific evidence for which the theory of an intelligent designer seems to fit the evidence better than random chance over a lengthy period of time. (I will be happy to cite some examples if you so desire.)

Our students deserve to have all theories of the origin of the world and species presented, along with evidence for and against each theory. (Quotes from religious texts do not constitute “evidence”.) All presentations should be consistent with the Scientific Method. Students can then decide for themselves which evidence seems more convincing. This is teaching our children to be independent thinkers rather than just absorbers of official dogma.

That said, the School Board has no right to abridge or abrogate any curricular requirements set by the State of Ohio. Where requirements exist, I will , if elected, follow the law.

That last sentence is all well and good, but the preceding two paragraphs are real problematic. So another person pressed Kelly about those “examples.” In response Kelly wrote

Here is a link to a page at Conservapedia.com. While I do not necessarily endorse everything on that website, this is a helpful compilation of counterexamples to an old earth. See all of the references at the bottom of the page for source material. > > http://www.conservapedia.com/Counte[…]an_Old_Earth

Gack! So I was forced to respond to Kelly’s claim in an open letter first published on Facebook (Parts 2-4 are in the comments to Part 1: Facebook posting limits and formatting regularly defeats me). I’ll reproduce that open letter below the fold with very light editing to correct a couple of typos and more substantial editing to correct an error.

This is a report by Gaythia Weis, a member of the board of Colorado Citizens for Science, about the enlightened position taken by Aims Community College, Greeley, Colorado, when confronted with a talk by a creationist and, more specifically, concern about the publicity for that talk. The talk, which was sponsored by a recognized student organization, was originally and incorrectly advertised as if it were a college-sponsored event. Briefly, Aims (and Ms. Weis) recognized that the speaker had a legal right to speak, but the college wisely dissociated itself from the speech. In short, according to Ms. Weis, the college administration “got it.” Herewith, Ms. Weis’s essay:

I’d like to encourage other Panda’s Thumb readers to tune up their eyes and ears and be watchful for the following sort of situation, in which creationists are apparently trying to insert their views into our public community college education system. Besides protecting the teaching of science, we need to be mindful of our constitutional rights to freedom of speech and religion. Still, a firm line can be drawn between the rights of a student group to meet on campus, and the presentation of that group’s views as if the viewpoint is supported by the public institution itself. The following example shows how a small bit of constructive intervention can have positive effects.

A while back I mentioned that one of the legal proceedings initiated by John Freshwater in aid of his quest to regain his teaching job was a complaint to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission alleging religious discrimination by the school district in his firing. I’ve finally learned that the Commission dismissed that complaint way back last June, saying

Based on the investigation conducted in this matter, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission has determined that there is No Probable Cause to believe that the Respondent [the school district] engaged in an unlawful discriminatory practice under section 4112 of the Ohio Revised Code and hereby orders that this matter be Dismissed. (bolding in the original)

Still in progress (if that’s the right word!) are Freshwater’s complaint (on the same ground) to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and his appeal of Judge Otho Eyster’s decision on Freshwater’s appeal of his termination in the state court system.

Today Judge Otho Eyster of the Knox County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas denied John Freshwater’s appeal of his termination as a middle school science teacher by the Mt. Vernon City Schools. In his ruling (Page 1 and Page 2, both PDFs at the Mount Vernon News site), Judge Eyster wrote that “Based on the number of witnesses and exhibits presented at the Referee’s hearing held over a period of twenty-one (21) months, the Court finds Freshwater’s request that the Court conduct additional hearings is not well taken.” Further, the Judge wrote, “…there is clear and convincing evidence to support the Board of Education’s termination of Freshwater’s contract(s) for good and just cause,…”.

In the decision Freshwater was ordered to pay the costs of the proceeding.

As I understand it, Freshwater still has the option to pursue an appeal of Judge Eyster’s ruling up the ladder of the state courts. As far as I know he still has the support of the Rutherford Institute. No public comments by Freshwater and/or that Institute concerning the Court’s ruling have as yet been made.

UPDATE As foreshadowed just above, The Rutherford Institute today (Oct 6) issued a press release saying it will appeal Judge Eyster’s decision to the Ohio 5^th District Court of Appeals. (Hat tip to Accountability in the Media, a site operated by Freshwater supporters.)

I’ve seen a report originating with an anonymous member of the public who attended the Springboro Board of Education meeting on Tuesday of this week. According to the report, approximately 12 members of the public, including at least one representative of the local teachers union, spoke against the proposal to explore including creationism in the Springboro school curriculum. No one spoke in favor of the proposal, and at least one board member was reported to have claimed that the whole thing was taken out of context and that they were just asking questions. It appears that the board is moving on, abandoning the issue at least for the time being.

Springboro, Ohio, described by Wikipedia as “an affluent suburb of Cincinnati and Dayton,” has a school board on which two members are pushing for the inclusion of creationism in the district’s science curriculum. The Dayton Daily News reported today that BOE members Kelly Kohls and Scott Anderson, elected on a platform of fiscal responsibility, are one vote away from a creationist majority on the Board. According to the story, Kohls requested that

… the district’s curriculum director look into ways of providing “supplemental” instruction dealing with creationism.

It goes on

“Creationism is a significant part of the history of this country,” Kohls said. “It is an absolutely valid theory and to omit it means we are omitting part of the history of this country.”

Consistent with Lenny Flank’s law, though, Kohls makes the motivation for her advocacy of creationism clear:

Kohls is the head of the Warren County Tea Party. Although she said her desire to teach creationism is not directly related to the emerging political movement, it’s not inconsistent with Tea Party ideals.

“My input on creationism has everything with me being a parent and not a member of the Tea Party,” she said. “We are motivated people who want to change the course of this country. Eliminating God from our public lives I think is a mistake and is why we have gone in the direction of spending beyond our means.”

Nice.

There’s some support for the push from another source:

John Silvius, a former biology professor at Cedarville University, a Christian institution that teaches both evolution and creationism, said the two theories can co-exist, even in a public school classroom.

Cedarville is a Baptist young-earth institution; it even has a young earth geology program, taught, it is claimed, from “both naturalistic and young-earth paradigms of earth history.”

I trust that the curriculum director will read documents like Edwards v. Aguilar, McLean v. Arkansas, and Epperson v. Arkansas, not to mention Kiztmiller v. Dover. I also hope that the Board’s legal advisers have their wits about them.

The two creationism-pushing board members were supposedly elected on a fiscal responsibility platform. How fiscally responsible is it to expose the district to expenses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars by advocating a bankrupt religious approach in public schools? The Mt. Vernon, OH, and Dover, PA, boards could provide Springboro with some advice on just how “fiscally responsible” pushing creationism is. The same sort of shenanigans cost those districts on the order of $1m each.

A reader, Dan Phelps, tells me, “Looks like the ‘fiscal conservative’ school board member is going to cost his district a lot of money.” See here, and stay tuned to a local newspaper near you.

In a Columbus Dispatch story we learn that John Freshwater has recently sold his home and small farm to pay legal costs associated with his effort to retain his job as a middle school science teacher in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. That saddens me. While I disagree vehemently with the various shenanigans in his classroom described during the 38 days of administrative hearing on his termination, it gives me no pleasure at all to know that Freshwater is no longer on his land tending to his apple trees and evergreens and selling apples and Christmas trees in town in their season.

Teaching the controversy. (HT: NoodleFood)

Mother Jones has the news in this article from June 9^th:

On Wednesday, Right Wing Watch flagged a recent interview [David] Barton gave with an evangelcial talk show, in which he argues that the Founding Fathers had explicitly rejected Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Yes, that Darwin. The one whose seminal work, On the Origin of Species, wasn’t even published until 1859. Barton declared, “As far as the Founding Fathers were concerned, they’d already had the entire debate over creation and evolution, and you get Thomas Paine, who is the least religious Founding Father, saying you’ve got to teach Creation science in the classroom. Scientific method demands that!” Paine died in 1809, the same year Darwin was born.

Here’s the clip:

Discuss.

Dale McGowan calls our attention to the plan of the Fulton County, Georgia (part of the Atlanta metro area) Board of Education to eliminate (not amend or revise, but eliminate) both its current policy and procedures concerning church/state issues in the schools and its policy on the teaching of religion. There’s some question about whether the elilmination is motivated by something beyond bureaucratic housecleaning, but the (lack of) responses from board members that McGowan reports is not an auspicious sign.

McGowan makes a couple of recommendations. First,

If you are a resident of Fulton County, Georgia and agree that these policies and procedure should remain in place, find out who your board member is and write a concise, reasonable but firm email expressing your strong conviction that these two policies and one procedure should stay right where they are. If you have kids in school, name the school.

Please don’t harass them, especially if you’re not a resident of Fulton County.

Second, he makes a recommendation that I’m going to follow up on:

If you are in a district that has been embroiled in church/state messes, you might drop a note to tell my district how helpful clear policy can be. It means less head-butting, fewer lawsuits, and fewer distractions from the education of our kids.

I will surely do that, given the Freshwater affair in my own district.

As I noted in a comment a few days ago, federal judge Gregory Frost remanded John Freshwater’s appeal of his terrmination back to the Knox County Court of Common Pleas. Now according to a press release today, April 11, the Rutherford Institute has agreed to assist Freshwater in the appeal of his termination.

The press release says

The Rutherford Institute is defending a Christian teacher who was allegedly fired for keeping religious articles in his classroom and for using teaching methods that encourage public school students to think critically about the school’s science curriculum, particularly as it relates to evolution theories.

More below the fold.