The SCORE
The Sandoval County Online Reporting Enterprise
Rio Rancho, N.M.
New Mexico's first totally online commuity newspaper was last updated on Monday, May 16, 2009 at 10 p.m.
Unless
there is a major shift in the next month, a controversial policy
covering science education in the Rio Rancho Public Schools is dead.
Three members of the Rio Rancho School Board indicated at Monday’s meeting they favor removing Policy 401. Board president Linda Cour joined members Divyesh Patel and Margaret Terry,
who requested the item be brought up for discussion, in saying they
thought the policy was redundant because it is covered by state
teaching guidelines.
Don Schlichte was the only board member present who supported keeping the policy. The board’s fifth member, vice-chairman Marty Scharfglass, was absent due to a family emergency but indicated in a statement read by Cour he would support keeping the policy.
Schlichte, Scharfglass and former board member Kathy Jackson were the majority that supported the policy when it was instituted three years ago.
Opponents
of the policy claim the policy allows the teaching of “intelligent
design,” a theory that claims that life forms cannot simply be
explained by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Opponents believe the policy
singles out science classes are being singled out with the policy and
that it is a way to introduce a religious element into the curriculum
in violation of separation of church and state philosophy.
Proponents,
however, believe that since both intelligent design and Darwin’s work
are considered theory, they should both be taught in biology classes.
They also fear the church and state argument puts pressure on students,
preventing them from expressing different beliefs despite other
district policies that are supposed to protect the freedom of
expression.
The board will next meet on Dec. 3 to consider final
action on the policy. Normally it meets twice monthly, but a Nov. 26
meeting has been canceled due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
A complete transcript of the 30-minute discussion among board members will appear in The SCORE later this week.
