Science Victory in Pennsylvania

One of the many important issues on ballots around the nation yesterday, was the election of school board members in Dover, Pennsylvania. For those not keeping track, this is the sight of the Dover Trial on Intelligent Design - for a couple of discussions and summaries see here, here, and here. The case is Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District and is the first legal test for intelligent design. In 2004, the Dover PA school board included the teaching of ID in its Biology curriculum, where every student had to read a prepared statement about ID before learning about evolution. Some parents were not happy with this and sued. The issue of the suit is whether the policy of incorporating intelligent design into the curriculum was motivated by religious or educational principles, hence violating the separation of church versus state. It is the first court test of the validity of teaching ID in the public school system. Closing arguments have just recently been presented in the trial and the judge's ruling is due in early January. The community in Dover PA, however, did not wait for the judges to rule. 8 of the 9 school board memers were on the ballot for re-election yesterday, and ALL 8 LOST. WooHoo! The majority in Dover PA has spoken, and this majority wants science in their children's classrooms. I certainly hope Kansas school board members are listening.