SWORD SHEATHED

I've previously shot off my mouth on a number of occasions about the emptiness of threats by the Discovery Institute and their minions aimed at silencing the opinions of public school teachers who openly assert the compatibility of some forms of religion with evolutionary theory. I wasn't too happy, here and here.

Now comes the rejection, by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, of a suit that alleges something similar at the hands of the University of California Museum of Paleontology 'Understanding Evolution' web site, which (I might add) is one of the best evolution resources for high school teachers out there.

The suit was nominally brought by Jeanne Caldwell, but it is her barrister spouse Larry Caldwell is the real 'brains' behind this line of attack. Happlily, the Court has found "Ms." Caldwell's argument entirely wanting, as you can read in this PDF file.

What a relief! And to think I was living with the prospect of fearful litigation for daring to share facts with students. The Sword of Damocles has been lifted!

MY VOLUNTEERING DAYS MAY BE OVER

Well, I was a busy bee over the weekend. When I came back I had many fires to put out at my school site. The good news is that it appears I may be in my new room by Oct. 15th. The bad news is that the district is pretty much leaning on me to start taking classes once a week to prep for a test to satisfy CLAD.

Never mind that I was hired without CLAD, or that CLAD is not at present legally mandated for anyone previously hired. The district has simply decided that I will take CLAD training on their dime, or else I will be judged insubordinate. I was given two choices:

• give up several consecutive Saturdays, and receive some modest stipend at the end of the semester

• attend 8-4 classes for several consecutive Thursdays, for which days the district will pay for subs

Why is the district doing this? Is it because it is likely to make me a more effective teacher? I am frankly skeptical, and my colleagues who have CLAD haven't said much to lead me to believe that this is going to be anything other than a dog-and-pony show to make the district look good. But let's take the district's desire at face-value, and assume that they are just trying to be proactive and raise the quality of their work force. Why, then, am I not being offered any college credit through either option, both of which are being provided through the Tulare (why not Fresno?) County Office of Education rather than an accredited university? This is the equivalent of 12 units of coursework if obtained through a degree program as described here!

I find this especially galling because, for better or worse, I've tried to be a good soldier. I've taught six periods once when asked. I was a seventh-period instructor for two years, teaching a section that most of my other colleagues strive to avoid. I've taught all four of the standards-based courses, including in one year as an emergency fill-in. I've served on the Site Council both as a Rep and as President. I've sponsored student clubs and went to games, plays, etc. voluntarily on a regular basis. I've done inservices for faculty and helped individual colleagues resolve technical problems. In fact, to some of my colleagues I've become a running joke, the 'guy who volunteers.'

Well, to make a long story short I'm going to take the Thursday option because if I lose my Saturdays, what with working a second job already (church choir director) along with my other interests, I think my wife would, um, KILL me. But the downside is that I'm going to have to 'pick up the pieces' every Friday after a sub day for the rest of the semester and it's going to have a negative impact on my curriculum, and thus potentially those precious test scores that my employer places such a premium on could also be affected. If they are, though, will I be cut any slack from a district evaluator if my scores are below the site average, even though my students are effectively being deprived of more than a week's worth of real instructor time because of the administration's desire that all teachers have some sort of progress toward CLAD? Shoot, I doubt it. This is heads they win and tails I lose.

So....I really don't want to be the next administrator who asks me for a favor.

WHIRLWIND SCHEDULE

Last night I jumped up to Turlock to catch Josh Rosenau's lecture on "Creationist Attacks on Science Education: The Evolution of a Parasite."

Josh did a good job and graciously allowed me to record part of his presentation, segments of which I will be posting as I have time over the next few weeks. I was a bit disappointed in the venue: they didn't have adequate lighting to actually see Josh on the stage, and the 'screen' to which he had to project his Power Point was little better than textured cheesecloth, greatly obscuring any desired visual impact. But Josh soldiered on.

Now, this morning I'm going to be having breakfast with the (Amazing) James Randi, who is in town as part of a lecture series at CSU Fresno. The breakfast is sponsored by the membership of CVAAS. I won't be able to attend Randi's lecture, because (oh, the irony) I'll be busy with my church choir. I have to wonder if there are any other Christians out there who have similar scheduling conflicts?

Then back to work to prepare a lesson for the substitute who'll take my classes on Friday, because I'll be headed out of town for the weekend. My high school (Desert High!) is holding a reunion for Classes '78 - '81 in the Edwards AFB (Mojave Desert) area. The events start on Friday evening and continue Sunday morning. In between, I'm planning on attending the 'Origins' conference at Caltech sponsored by Skeptics. A lot of heavy-hitters.