ACLU Asks Jeffco School
Board to Restore Science Video

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 1996 

The ACLU of Colorado has asked the Jefferson County School Board to review and reverse Superintendent Wayne Carle's decision to remove a highly-praised video from the science curriculum. The ACLU made the request in a letter sent to school board members on Tuesday.

Carle said he pulled the video, "The Miracle Of Life", because an introductory section presented evolution as though it were a fact instead of describing evolution as a theory. Carle's action was prompted by a complaint from a student who believes that the theory of evolution contradicts his religious beliefs.

In the letter, ACLU Legal Director Mark Silverstein stated that the reason the Superintendent provided for pulling the video sounded legitimate only on the surface. "On closer examination," the letter said, "the rationale is deeply troubling."

Silverstein said that he did not believe that the school board would or could apply the Superintendent's rationale in a consistent manner across the curriculum. "Will the school board insist that all discussion of gravity include the point that it is a theory and not a fact," he asked. "Will the school board ensure that teachers refrain from suggesting that the theory of electricity is a fact?"

"The school board is entitled to shape the curriculum according to legitimate education criteria," Silverstein explained. "If those criteria are not applied in a consistent manner, however, it will appear that the school board has removed this particular instructional aid because it offended the religious beliefs of a particular religious group. That is not a legitimate reason for depriving students and teachers of a valuable and educational tool."

In the letter, ACLU Legal Director Mark Silverstein said that the Superintendent's action "deserves the closest scrutiny."

The ACLU has been involved in every major court battle over the teaching of evolution in the public schools, from the famous trial of biology teacher John T. Scopes, who was charged with the crime of teaching evolution in Tennessee in the 1920s, to the Supreme Court's 1987 decision holding that "Creation Science" is a religious doctrine that cannot constitutionally be taught in the public schools.

The Jefferson County School Board will meet in a public session Thursday evening.

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