re: #765 Charles

Here’s a little more on that subject. This is an excerpt from one of the lectures at issue in the lawsuit:

“Mr. Palozza used to be (inaudible) in biology. I was the editor of - - not the editor - - the advisor to the student newspaper at the time .. .In his classes, he was not telling the kids the scientific truth about evolution. He was hinting to kids in class that there’s another explanation, and he invited kids to his home so they could hear the truth, the Biblical truth about all this … He sued me as the advisor to the paper for five million, as a matter of fact. He also, on another issue, sued several other members of the faculty here because he claimed he had the right under rules of academic freedom … it’s not very true at the high school level, we have a curriculum regarding how one’s supposed to teach children in class. It’s the state curriculum. It doesn’t include European History, so I have to make it up … The claim was that my editorial was false and he wasn’t teaching religion, that creation science was all he ever taught, and, of course, for periods of time its religion .. .I will not leave John Palozza alone to propagandize kids with this religion, superstitious nonsense … he effectively was fired; although, frankly, you know, I think he should have been fired - - (inaudible) should have been fired from the district. He was just moved to a job where he could do less damage.”

I think this quote again shows that this teacher has a problem with expressing himself and his views in a way that is appropriate in the classroom. If the other teacher was preaching creationism, I applaud him for taking this stand. He was in the right. But is it appropriate or professional to tell a classroom of 15 year olds that another teacher “should have been fired from the district”? This doesn’t reflect good judgment or discretion.