The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Thursday voted in favor of purchasing several science textbooks, despite opposition from creationists who argue the books teach evolution too matter-of-factly. The board also voted to adopt a grading system for public schools that assign schools letter grades similar to student report cards. Grades will correlate to an individual schools performance score.
The vote in favor of the books was 8-2, ratifying a 6-1 vote on Tuesday by a BESE committee. District 7 BESE member Dale Bayard, who represents Lafayette and southwest Louisiana, voted against the textbooks at both meetings. Proponents of standard science education including the Louisiana Coalition for Science and the California-based National Center for Science Education hailed the votes as affirmations of mainstream science education.
The margin that approved the grading system for public schools Thursday was slimmer: 6-4. Bayard also voted in the minority on this topic.
According to The Advocate, the grading breakdown adopted for schools is: A — 120 and up; B — 105-119.9; C — 90-104.9; D — 65-89.9; F — 64.9 and below.
Based on the most recent school performance scores and applying that grade system to schools in Lafayette Parish, N.P. Moss Middle, with an SPS of 55.2, is the lone school to receive an F. Fifteen LPSS schools earn a D; seven get a C; 10 receive a B; and six — the early college academy, Milton Elementary, Greent T. Lindon Elementary, Broadmoor Elementary, Woodvale Elementary and Paul Breaux Middle — earn an A.
Read more about the grading system here.
MAY 20 This post by blogger CB Forgotston draws parallels between Gov. Bobby Jindal and two individuals he probably doesn't want to be aligned with: President Obama and former governor Edwin Edwards. CB says Jindal's trying to jack up the debt ceiling (an Obama play, according to CB) and buy votes from GOP leges who normally wouldn't go for that (an Edwards play, CB says).
MAY 20 Here's a post in the Baptist Message from an alumnus of Louisiana College. The author, Larry Burgess, calls on the leadership of the private school to take care of some pressing problems. Physical plant issues are critical and unaddressed, some faculty make so little they need government health care, and there is an atmosphere that does not encourage honest discussion, he writes. It's time to get things back in order, he says.
MAY 20 This post in Gambit tells of a benefit concert scheduled to raise money for the 19 people shot during a Mother's Day second line on Frenchmen Street in NOLA. Among them was Gambit blogger Deb Cotton, who spoke frequently about violence in the city and reported on the city's second line culture. Gambit's foundation, along with other NOLA non-profits, also is selling t-shirts to raise money for the victims.
MAY 20 Blogger Robert Mann is critical of the personal interest some legislators take in their work here, sharing the comments one NOLA solon made in explaining his decision to vote against a bill that would require people to stop discriminating against female workers. His wife might lose some salary, so he was going to have to vote against the equal pay bill, Conrad Appel said. Appel and everyone who heard him should have been ashamed, but they weren't, and that's what is wrong in that building, Mann argues.
MAY 20 American Press columnist Jim Beam writes about the budget again here, urging kudos for the House and its efforts to try to fix the budget as opposed to passing on a flawed and messy rubber-stamped document as it usually does. The Senate already is poo-pooing the effort, but instead Senators should be trying to find a way to improve it as well, Beam argues. He also has some predictions in here from LABI and CABL.
MAY 20 Here's a link to the photo gallery from Tulane's graduation this past weekend. Dr. John and Allen Toussaint played together and received honorary degrees. The Dalai Lama was so entranced by their performance he got up from his seat and walked across the stage to stand next to them. He even participated in a second line with his own personal, saffron-colored umbrella. To the graduates, he urged them to think about creating a peaceful, hopeful life and society.
MAY 20 This Picayune story questions the rhetoric of NOLA officials who say the city, aside from having a "murder problem," is safe. The talking points generally are that the criminals are killing each other, but everything else is OK. The police chief there says that even Lafayette is more dangerous than NOLA. But crime experts interviewed here say that NOLA's numbers indicate one of two things: either people are so used to violence they don't report it, or somebody's "fudging the numbers."
MAY 20 The Advocate's Mark Ballard writes about some of the background maneuvering that took place during the development of budget alternatives in the Legislature. From Rep. Joel Robideaux being called a "tax and spend liberal" to robo-call influence, Ballard lets us in on some of the work that happens behind the scenes but usually doesn't make it into the Advocate's daily coverage of the session.
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Fortunately, the final vote seems to indicate that DALE BAYARD didn't stand much of a chance at convincing his fellow school board members to reject the new science textbook for its lesson on evolution, as well as its lack of presenting Intelligent Design as an alternative theory just as legitimate and scientific as evolution.
The sheer notion that this was an issue at all is yet another demonstration of the many obstacles that Louisiana faces in attempt to improve state-wide education.
For a state traditionally ranked among the lowest in education, it seems unarguable that Dale Bayard--and members like him--be permanently removed from Louisiana's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Otherwise, such obstructions to the advancement of our public schools and their teachers and students will continue to be a problem without solution, thus ensuring that education in our wonderful state never progress beyond the low ratings of 100 years ago.
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Furthermore, it is SHOCKING, HORRIFYING, and altogether ABOMINABLE that, in 2010, science continues to be regulated by religion.
At elementary levels of education, students are taught about the greatest thinkers in the history of man--philosophers like Socrates and scientists like Galileo--and in doing so, the students also learn of the shameful and unfortunate persecution that these greatest of minds suffered at the hands of religious authority.
Attempting to force students to learn that ID is a legitimate and scientific theory is more than repulsive, as it encourages further scientific illiteracy in Louisiana, a state persistently struggling to improve its rate of education at all levels and in all fields.
In short, i simply cannot understand how a man like Bayard is allowed to determine what our students will or will not learn.
HOW CAN AN ETHICAL PUBLIC SERVANT JUSTIFY ATTEMPTING TO INSTALL RELIGIOUS DECREE INTO PUBLIC EDUCATION?
. . .and. . .
HOW DOES THIS SERVANT'S PUBLIC ALLOW SUCH ATTEMPTS TO BE MADE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE?
(in conclusion, sorry about the length of ranting of my comment. it was not intentional.)