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9 Nov 05 Here is the good news from the Washington post. Sally E. Walker Ps. Guess we'll have to pull out those old bumber stickers about Kansas and send them lots of Darwin fish-with-legs stickers and condolence cards. "Pennsylvania Voters Oust School Board By MARTHA RAFFAELE The Associated Press Wednesday, November 9, 2005; 2:39 AM DOVER, Pa. -- Voters came down hard Tuesday on school board members who backed a statement on intelligent design being read in biology class, ousting eight Republicans and replacing them with Democrats who want the concept stripped from the science curriculum. The election unfolded amid a landmark federal trial involving the Dover public schools and the question of whether intelligent design promotes the Bible's view of creation. Eight Dover families sued, saying it violates the constitutional separation of church and state. Megan Kitzmiller, Dover Area High School senior and daughter of Tammy Kitzmiller, holds a sign supporting the Dover Citizens Actively Reviewing Educational Strategies (Dover C.A.R.E.S.) to cars pulling into the Dover Township Community Center polling place in Dover, Pa., on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005. The debate over how evolution is taught in this rural school district could influence whether eight school board members will remain in office after Tuesday. The Dover Area School Board incumbents are defending a board policy adopted in October 2004 requiring ninth-graders to hear about "intelligent design"before learning about evolution in biology class. Eight Dover families, including Tammy Kitzmiller, are suing the school district, alleging that the policy violates the constitutional separation of church and state. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Carolyn Kaster - AP) Dover's school board adopted a policy in October 2004 that requires ninth-graders to hear a prepared statement about intelligent design before learning about evolution in biology class. Eight of the nine school board members were up for election Tuesday. They were challenged by a slate of Democrats who argued that science class was not the appropriate forum for teaching intelligent design. "My kids believe in God. I believe in God. But I don't think it belongs in the science curriculum the way the school district is presenting it," said Jill Reiter, 41, a bank teller who joined a group of high school students waving signs supporting the challengers Tuesday. A spokesman for the winning slate of candidates has said they wouldn't act hastily and would consider the outcome of the court case. The judge expects to rule by January; the new school board members will be sworn in Dec. 5. School board member David Napierskie, who lost Tuesday, said the vote wasn't just about ideology. "Some people felt intelligent design shouldn't be taught and others were concerned about having tax money spent on the lawsuit," he said. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by some kind of higher force. The statement read to students says Charles Darwin's theory is "not a fact" and has inexplicable "gaps." A similar controversy has erupted in Kansas, where the state Board of Education on Tuesday approved science standards for public schools that cast doubt on the theory of evolution. The 6-4 vote was a victory for intelligent design advocates who helped draft the standards."
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