Another teacher gets in trouble over evolution

I’m not trying to turn into NCSE Reports here, but I did want to point out this article in Counterpunch about a Weston, Connecticut teacher who wanted to do a class on evolution.

Yeah, you probably know where this is going, don’t you?

A teacher with 17 years experience wanted to do a class that featured Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, riffing off the trivial fact that they have the same birthday. This was submitted to the school’s principal, who basically went all Jack Nicolson in A Few Good Men... on behalf of his students, of course.

(Principal) Dr. Ribbens rejected the proposed program because of its discussion of evolution. ... “I know personally that I would be challenged in leading a 10-year old through this sort of discussion while maintaining the appropriate sensitivity to a family’s religious beliefs or traditions.”

Dr. Ribbens concluded by saying evolution was not age appropriate for Mr. Tangarone’s students and said “TAG topics need to be altered this year to eliminate the teaching of Darwin’s work and the theory of evolution.”

So because the principal can’t figure out a way to do it, it must be impossible. Right?

So, teacher quits, school board says teacher has disciplinary problem, and principal tries apologizing for “heat of the moment” comments.