Coalition releases letter opposing science standards

ORLANDO (FBW) – Kim Kendall is “just” a mom with a busy life taking care of her two kids who are students in the St. Johns County public school system and her husband. But the former air traffic controller has orchestrated a growing chorus of opponents to proposed science standards for Florida’s public schools that will make Darwinian evolution a central feature without any acknowledgement of contrary views.

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Kendall, a member of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, stood Feb. 11 at an Orlando news conference held to announce a letter to the State Board of Education (SBOE) signed by 22 persons, representing a coalition of organizations opposed to the proposed science standards.

She also spoke at a hastily arranged final public hearing chaired by state Education Commissioner Eric Smith – mostly it seemed to accommodate Kendall and her allies who have been thwarted in their attempt to speak directly to the SBOE.

“I have devoted weeks and weeks to just trying to be heard but I have been met with nothing but frustration and disappointment,” Kendall said, noting she had contacted most of those participating in the news conference in her attempt to raise the profile of the issue.

“There have been public hearings that were abruptly canceled; there were no press releases issued for the hearings that were scheduled or for the canceled hearings. The [Internet] survey was just too complicated and difficult to navigate for even a sophisticated user like myself. The multiple attempts by all of us to meet personally with members of the Board of Education have come up unanswered,” she continued.

Kendall also criticized those who have been “flying under the radar” by not giving fair notice to the public and the media, and “even a very highly motivated parent” such as herself who is trying to express her views about how children are to be educated.

Kendall and other members of the coalition urged that both sides of the debate be given 15 minutes to address the SBOE at its Feb. 19 meeting in Tallahassee in which the science standards will be considered.

“It is simply remarkable to me that the very people who are making this decision are exactly the same ones refusing to hear directly from the people whose children’s lives and educations are being affected by these standards,” she concluded.

John Stemberger, president of Florida Family Policy Council, said members of the SBOE have a responsibility to “face the public directly and not run and hide when an issue of serious concern or controversy arises. The decision makers involved need to step up the plate and hear both sides of the debate—clearly, directly and without filters. The SBOE needs to see the whites of the eyes of Kim Kendall and hear directly from those parents whose children will be affected by these standards.”

Stemberger said the proposed standards on evolution are “poorly worded, they are not scientifically neutral, and they do not lend themselves to scientific criticism. By their own wording, they do not permit the free flow of scientific evidence to examine both the strengths and weaknesses of their own conclusions.”

Fred Cutting, a retired aerospace engineer who served on the Framers’ Committee chosen by the Department of Education to write the science standards, issued a statement at the news conference read by Terry Kemple, president of the Community Issues Council and member of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon.

In the statement, Cutting said the life sciences sub-committee on which he served was “very one-sided, biased and narrow in its final views.”

According to Cutting, members of the drafting committee were unaware of the “latest developments in the scientific literature regarding mico-biology, species origination and the origination of life.” He said one educational professional told him the committee was “treating the theory of evolution as a religion.”

Cutting said his attempts to make the standards “even-handed” in its approach to evolution “were met with hostility and aggressive opposition.”

Representing Florida Christian Coalition at the news conference was its newly named executive director, Dennis Baxley, a former state representative from Ocala and member of First Baptist Church in Belleview.

The coalition letter was signed by leaders of Florida Christian Coalition, Florida Family Policy Council, Liberty Council, other organizations and several pastors, including Forrest Pollock of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon.

Included with the letter is a memorandum to the SBOE by Francis Grubbs, an educational consultant with the Gibbs Law Firm in Seminole offering a detailed critique of the science standards’ treatment of evolution. (The memorandum can be read at the Witness Web site: www.FloridaBaptistWitness.com.)

The letter applauds the “hard work and dedicated service” that produced the science standards and asserts: “… [W]e see a severe lapse in the intellectual integrity of the new wording regarding the basis of study of biology.”

Signers of the letter insist they do not seek the removal of the “theory of evolution” from the curriculum or the inclusion of any other origins theory.

“We are simply encouraging an accurate and thorough presentation of all the scientific evidence currently available regarding the theory of evolution, both that which supports the theory and that which calls it into question,” the letter says.

During the nearly five-hour public hearing Feb. 11 before Commissioner Smith, about 70 people offered their opinions about the science standards – with many of the speakers disagreeing with various aspects of the way evolution is addressed in the standards.

Kendall was invited by Smith to speak first.

In her comments at the hearing, Kendall congratulated the Department of Education on its efforts to “upgrade” math and science standards which are “wonderful, except for one small area – evolution and diversity.”

Insisting she does not advocate the inclusion of creationism in the standards, Kendall told Smith that evolution should be taught “with both its faults as well as its supports” and urged academic freedom be maintained for teachers and students.

Kendall requested Smith to permit advocates and opponents to each have 15 minutes to address the State Board of Education at its Feb. 19 meeting.

Lori Muller, a friend of Kendall’s and member of First Baptist Jacksonville, also spoke at the hearing expressing concern about the way evolution is addressed in the proposed science standards.

“We have been called ignorant, uneducated, stupid and in some instances much worse for the stand that we are making against these proposed science standards,” Muller said.

“I feel that by teaching the students of Florida to put blinders on when it comes to evolution that we are doing them just as much of a disservice as if we tell them that no one believes in evolution and the whole thing is bunk,” she said.

Clayton Cloer, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Central Florida in Orlando, argued against the treatment of evolution in the standards both on the basis of scientific points that undermine Darwinism and for sociological reasons. Darwinism is based on “chance” and will be damaging to students who will apply such thinking to their lives, he said.

Cloer noted that America’s Declaration of Independence asserts the Creator has endowed humans with inalienable rights, something which is undermined by evolution.

Darrell Sammons, pastor of Cypress Baptist Church in the Panhandle, said he has “great concern” for his three daughters’ education in public schools if the science standards are not changed related to evolution.

“I implore the board to require Florida educators to present all sides of this issue in order to assure that [my daughters] will receive a well-rounded and informed education,” he said.

Robin Brown, a retired science teacher in Polk County and member of First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland, said she came to offer her concerns about the standards’ treatment of evolution as attempt to practice what she taught her students that “one person can make a difference.”

Various persons, including a representative of Florida’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, also spoke at the hearing, affirming the science standards, including its treatment of evolution.

Chris Parkinson, a biology professor at the University of Central Florida, said evolution is a theory with a “capital ‘t,’” similar to the theory of gravity which is obviously true.

Brian Tonner, a research scientist and president of the Orlando Science Center, spoke in favor of the proposed standards and argued that Florida’s ability to recruit biotech scientists will be harmed by changing the approach to evolution in the standards.

Joe Wolf, president of Florida Citizens for Science, presented a petition signed by 1,500 persons, about 1,000 from Florida, who support the science standards as written.