A story by Tonya Fennell for the Sedalia (MO) Democrat reports on the action taken by Assistant Superintendent Brad Pollitt in response to complaints from some parents about T-shirts designed for the school marching band’s program, “Brass Evolutions 2009.” Pollitt says he “made the decision to have the band members turn the shirts in after [...]
Category Archives: Texas
“neutrality” strikes again: banned band shirts in MO (evolution/religion dispute)
August 31, 2009 – 11:29 am
TCS report on new Texas science standards
August 26, 2009 – 9:55 am
A report by Texas Citizens for Science on the Science Standards adopted by TSBOE in March is now posted on the TCS website. Dr. Steven Schafersman, President of TCS, tweets:
New TCS report on Texas science standards just posted on the website. The new standards can be used to improve evolution education if the science textbook [...]
ICR tries again in suit over grad “science ed” degree in Texas
August 21, 2009 – 2:23 pm
Unwilling to deal with the hilariously hideous complaint that was filed initially by the Institute for Creation Research in their attempt to get accreditation for their graduate degree program in “science education,” the judge ordered ICR to file an amended complaint, and then a second amended complaint, with a maximum page limit of 20 pages.
The [...]
new Lowe standards for Texas Social Studies
August 18, 2009 – 1:21 pm
An AP article on Gail Lowe, successor to Donald McLeroy as chair of the Texas SBOE, can be found now on the websites of the Houston Chronicle and the Lufkin Daily News.
The story quotes Chairman Lowe expressing her agreement with the preachers who have been appointed by the Board as “Experts” to advise them in [...]
Comer decision appealed
August 13, 2009 – 2:34 pm
added 8/31/2009: The case of the banned band T-shirts in Missouri may be eerily related to this case.
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Chris Comer, who was forced out of her job as Science head in the Texas Education Agency for forwarding an email announcement of a talk by Barbara Forrest in Austin, has filed her brief appealing the decision by [...]
TX Gov Perry names Gail Lowe to chair State Board of Education
July 10, 2009 – 12:30 pm
The Associated Press reports that Texas Governor Rick Perry has appointed Gail Lowe, one of the right-wing ideologues on SBOE, to serve as the Board’s chair, now that his first appointment of Don McLeroy failed confirmation in the state senate. … it strikes me that Lowe’s consistently petty partisanship makes McLeroy look like a diplomat and statesman by comparison.
TX “experts” and revision of the state Social Studies standards
July 7, 2009 – 11:20 am
Unlike school “Science,” the school subject(s) of “Social Studies” has no such well established recognized identity. If the Texas State Board of Education succeeds unchallenged in accepting people like David Barton to serve as “experts” on Social Studies, this reinforces the establishment of Social Studies as a school subject in which political, ideological, and religious agendas can be played out on the basis of sheer political power, unchecked by anything like the authority of experts in the disciplines.
McLeroy primary opponent announced
June 4, 2009 – 12:45 pm
See this article in the Houston Chronicle.
Click here for (many) previous posts on Chairman Mc (some including audio and/or video) on this blog.
McLeroy renomination fails in Texas
May 28, 2009 – 10:47 pm
As reported by the Austin American-Statesman, Texas Governor Rick Perry’s renomination of Don McLeroy for a second term as Chairman of the State Board of Education was NOT CONFIRMED by the state Senate: “The 19 to 11 party-line vote [Thursday, May 28, 2009] was not enough to get McLeroy across the required two-thirds threshold.”
On other [...]
Luskin on FoxTV: 100% of textbooks wrong on evolution
May 9, 2009 – 10:45 am
From Newshounds (“We watch Fox so you don’t have to”):
http://www.newshounds.us/2009/05/07/foxfriends_interview_intelligent_design_spokesman_to_critique_textbook_treatment_of_evolution_fair_and_balanced_or_bizarro_world.php
the Comer decision: What “disputed issues”?
April 29, 2009 – 12:17 am
While awaiting news on whether the decision against Chris Comer’s suit against the TEA will be appealed, I have finally gotten around to reading the opinion by District Court Judge Lee Yeakel (not to be confused with the Simpson’s character).
There’s a serious problem in the judge’s analysis (and the TEA’s argument), but to take advantage [...]
Haynes: “religion by any other name is still religion”
April 28, 2009 – 10:58 am
Charles Haynes, senior scholar with the First Amendment Center, has posted and syndicated an excellent new column on the First Amendment’s prohibition of religious teaching in public schools — even when such teaching is not explicitly “religious.”
The column responds to a controversy reported in the Los Angeles Times over the “Spirituality for Kids,” program — [...]
contested McLeroy renomination (links and video)
April 23, 2009 – 1:07 pm
Chairman Mc’s renomination as chair of the Texas State Board of Education is not going smoothly.
Video and audio of the confirmation hearing are now available and linked here.
The hearings were blogged live by the Texas Freedom Network, which has also has a blog post on the reported status of the nomination.
Other informative posts can be [...]
ICR post re: Texas lawsuit
April 21, 2009 – 7:44 pm
An article has now been posted on the ICR website with the title “Censorship in Texas: Fighting Academic and Religious Discrimination.”
It’s more of the same, but I think it vindicates a couple points that I raised more speculatively in my previous post on the ICR lawsuit:
1. I wrote, “It’s written in the kind of language [...]
Creationist “grad school” sues over Texas “science education” degree accreditation
April 21, 2009 – 3:54 pm
Added August 2009: Refusing to deal with the Complaint discussed below, the judge ordered that a new complaint must be filed before the lawsuit could proceed. Click here for the ICR’s second amended complaint.
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The Institute for Creation Research Graduate School (ICR/ICRGS) has filed a lawsuit (April 16, 2009) against the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board [...]
Audio for Texas Science Standards March 2009 now available
April 1, 2009 – 2:07 am
Audio files from the sessions of the Texas State Board of Education, March 2009, on state standards (TEKS) for science education (evolution, vs. “strengths and weaknesses,” etc.) are now posted at https://tw-curricuwiki.wikispaces.com/TXSBOE_March2009_Audio .
Texas Science Standards 2009 March 27 — McLeroy’s impassioned plea (links to audio & video)
March 27, 2009 – 2:29 pm
When I first posted this at 1:30 Texas time, the post began: GOOD NEWS !! FOR REAL !! (at last)
Well, the news ended up not so good. Here’s what I wrote then:
The Board has finally voted to strike the first of McLeroy’s creationist amendments — one that was passed in the January meeting. The vote [...]
