ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

This is from the National Center for Science Education.

Anyone from Texan have any insights to the potential effects?

A veteran antievolutionist is appointed to the Texas board of education,
while the Pope's latest remarks on evolution seem encouraging.  And a
chance to learn how to teach evolution with NCSE's Louise Mead.

ANTIEVOLUTIONIST APPOINTED TO HEAD TEXAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

On July 17, 2007, Don McLeroy was appointed by Texas governor Rick Perry
(R) to chair the state board of education, succeeding Geraldine Miller.  A
member of the board for the last eight years, McLeroy was described by the
Dallas Morning News (July 18, 2007) as "aligned with social conservative
groups known for their strong stands on evolution, sexual abstinence and
other heated topics covered in textbooks" and as "[o]ne of four board
members who voted against current high school biology books because of
their failure to list weaknesses in the theory of evolution."

In a statement issued on July 17, 2007, Texas Freedom Network's president
Kathy Miller chided Governor Perry for his choice, writing, "Texas parents
should be troubled that the governor has appointed as head of the state
board a clear ideologue who has repeatedly put his own personal and
political agendas ahead of sound science, good health and solid textbooks
for students.  Even worse, Mr. McLeroy will now be in charge of the board's
scheduled revision of the state's science curriculum standards, an area
where he has already cast his lot with extremists who want to censor what
our schoolchildren learn."

The state's newspapers also expressed concern about McLeroy.  Referring to
previous ideological struggles in which the board was involved, the Dallas
Morning News (July 19, 2007) worried, "The elevation of veteran board
member Don McLeroy to the chairman's post raises concerns that the board is
headed back in that direction," and urged McLeroy to steer clear of "the
bitterness of past culture wars."  Similarly, the Austin American-Statesman
(July 22, 2007) commented, "McLeroy's elevation to chairman comes as the
board begins a revision of science standards for public schools.  That
could prove embarrassing for Texas if McLeroy pushes for standards that
push theology over science."

A document on McLeroy's personal website entitled "Historical Reality" and
dated September 8, 2003, offers a glimpse of McLeroy's understanding of
evolutionary science.  Relying on discredited sources as Michael Behe's
Darwin's Black Box, Jonathan Wells's Icons of Evolution and Percival Davis
and Dean Kenyon's Of Pandas and People as well as on tendentious
misreadings of legitimate science and on long-ago-debunked creationist
claims, McLeroy argued that common descent is "only a hypothesis, and a
shaky one at that."  He then urged his colleagues on the board to reject
the books then under consideration -- a plea that was ignored.

The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for the sciences are
scheduled to be reviewed and revised shortly, with a final vote by the
Texas board of education presently expected in November 2008.  Textbooks
submitted for adoption in Texas are required to conform to the TEKS, so
although the next round of biology textbook adoption proceedings is not
expected to begin until 2009 at the earliest, it is likely that
antievolutionists will try to undermine the treatment of evolution in the
TEKS in order to provide a platform to campaign against the treatment of
evolution in the biology textbooks.

For the story in the Dallas Morning News, visit:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/DN-sboe_18tex.ART.State.Edition1.3bba4d6.html

For the statement from TFN's Kathy Miller, visit:
http://www.tfn.org/pressroom/display.php?item_id=5871

For the editorials quoted, visit:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-mcleroy_19edi.ART.State.Edition1.425e024.html
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/07/22/0722education_edit.html

For McLeroy's "Historical Reality" essay, visit:
http://www.donmcleroy.com/Textbooks/Historical_Reality.htm

For critiques of some of McLeroy's sources, visit:
http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/7738_review_of_michael_behe39s__5_20_2003.asp
http://www.ncseweb.org/icons/
http://www.ncseweb.org/article.asp?category=21

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Texas, visit:
http://www.ncseweb.org/pressroom.asp?state=TX

-- 
Martin Weiss, Ph.D
Consultant
Science Interpretation
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111 th Street
Corona, New York 11368
718 699 0005 x 356

***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]