CSC - Group Plans Road Trip to Promote Science Standards

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TOPEKA - A group defending the state's new science testing standards for public schools plans a road show next week through Kansas just days before state school board elections.

A leader of the Intelligent Design Network says the speaking tour has nothing to do with efforts to promote re-election of neo-conservative school board members friendly to their cause.

"Our goal is to make sure the public is properly informed on that issue," said John Calvert, managing director of the Intelligent Design Network at Lake Quivira.

He has lined up speakers who helped write the state's controversial new test standards for high school biology.

Critics say the campaign, with most of its stops in evangelical churches, is all about using the intelligent design agenda as a wedge to get voters to the polls Aug. 1.

"That seems disingenuous," said Jeremy Mohn, a biology teacher in the Blue Valley school district. "But that's not a surprise when you consider what they do."

The tour will stop in Hutchinson, Hays and Dodge City in western Kansas. Two school board members, Ken Willard and Connie Morris, drew Republican challengers in those areas in part because they had voted to change state science standards last year.

Morris, who represents western Kansas, said Wednesday she hopes the Intelligent Design Network's effort does encourage Kansans to get out and vote.

Calvert said he aimed for churches because "I think the religious community has been a target of the misinformation. We had the chance to have secular forums, but thought we should start with the places that are the target of the misinformation."

Calvert terms evolution itself a religion and says the new standards allow for criticism of the theory to make teaching more objective.

Mainstream scientists, however, roundly criticize Calvert and the changes as part of an effort to promote a narrow conservative Christian agenda. Advocating a particular religion in public schools is unconstitutional.

Calvert's tour comes shortly after the announcement of a new Web site by the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, which also promotes intelligent design, a theory that certain natural features are so complex they are the product of an intelligent cause rather than random mutation and natural selection.

Robert Crowther, spokesman at the institute, said the site was a response to an effort by Kansas Citizens for Science, a statewide group of mainstream scientists and science teachers.

"We were concerned they were misleading people about what the science standards say and do," Crowther said.

The citizens group sent out letters to local school boards last month urging them to reject the new standards. The Manhattan-Ogden school board voted earlier this year to do so.

Crowther said the institute's Web effort isn't targeting the elections a few weeks away.

"This is a long-term initiative. There is a national debate over how to teach evolution," he said. "This Web site will be around long after the elections are over."

However, Kansas Citizens for Science and others are fighting back with their own public education campaign.

They express alarm at the teachings of the Intelligent Design Network, which helped write the changes as part of a splinter group that broke off from the majority of the state's science standards writing committee. The state school board then endorsed their work.

Mohn, the biology teacher, recently posted his own Web site to advocate against the changes.

"In a lot of ways, science as a community isn't as well organized or as well funded as an organization like the Intelligent Design Network or the Discovery Institute. So, I thought since they have a Web site, mine would be a response to that," Mohn said.

He and Jack Krebs, a math teacher and leader in Kansas Citizens for Science, say they want to help the public understand the theory of evolution and that it can be compatible with people's religious beliefs.

"I think in a lot of ways, unfortunately, Kansans are confused. We can do a better job of helping people understand the issue," Mohn said. "I'd prefer to do radio ads, but unfortunately I don't have funds to do anything like that."

Public forums scheduled by the Intelligent Design Network:

??Kansas City: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Olathe Bible Church

•Emporia: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Victory Fellowship, The Foursquare Church

•Hutchinson: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, South Hutchinson Mennonite Church

•Dodge City: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Church of the Nazarene

•Hays: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Thomas More Prep School.

Another forum on state science standards:

What: "What's the Matter with Kansas' Science Standard, and Why Should You Care?"

A presentation by Jack Krebs, president of Kansas Citizens for Science and members of the Science Standards Writing Committee

When: 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday

Where: Shears Technology Center, Hutchinson Community College

Learn more about the science standards debate on TV:

Kansas public television will air "On the Record" on evolution, produced by KPTS/Wichita, at 8 p.m. Friday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday on KPTS/Wichita. It also will air at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on KTWU and noon Sunday on Smoky Hills Public Television.

Scheduled to discuss the state science standards that have fueled political debate for the past several years are Jack Krebs, president of Kansas Citizens for Science, and John Calvert, managing director of the Kansas Intelligent Design Network.