Intimidation Alleged On 'Intelligent Design'

WaPo reported Parents in federal court Tuesday described an atmosphere of intimidation and anger when school board members in Dover, Pa., last year decided to require high school biology teachers to read a statement that casts doubt on the theory of evolution.

Teachers complain when the school board requires them to read a statement??? Who the heck runs the school? The School Board, which is elected to do that job, or the administrators it hires, or some teachers that are just hired to teach what the school board wants taught?

Bryan Rehm, a parent who also taught physics at Dover High School, testified of continual pressure from board members not to "teach monkeys-to-man evolution." He said that the board required teachers to watch a film critical of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution

The school board made them watch a film, and read a short statement. If they dont want to work in that school district, they can quit.

and that board members talked openly of teaching creationism alongside evolution.... Rehm is one of 11 people from Dover, a small town south of Harrisburg, who want to block their school board from requiring the reading of that four-paragraph statement that criticizes evolutionary theory. The statement notes that "intelligent design" offers an alternative theory for the origin and evolution of life -- namely, that life in all of its complexity could not have arisen without the help of an intelligent hand..... Rehm had a different bottom line. Intelligent design, he said, is inherently religious -- a view shared by many scientists. And, he added: "Nine board members without degrees in science should not be dictating science curriculum."

And I suppose an English teacher might say nine board members without degrees in English Literature should not be dictating an English Literatur curriculum, or nine board membes without degrees in Mathematics should not be dictatating a Math curriculum. The school board is elected to run the school system, and dictating what is taught and what is not taught is their job. If you dont like it, resign and run for the school board. If you are elected, you will then have a voice in what is taught.