Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 40

When last we left, Chris Comer had filed an appeal on her lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency.

Denied.

The National Center for Science Education reported reported on this last week. (Man, am I out of the loop.)

The fact that Comer and other TEA employees cannot speak out for or against possible subjects to be included in the curriculum ... does not primarily advance religion, but rather, serves to preserve TEA’s administrative role in facilitating the curriculum review process for the Board.

As I mentioned before, I think the lawsuit aimed for too big a claim. If anyone has a legal background, I’d love to know why forwarding an email with “FYI” would be considered a violation of neutrality, which always seemed to me to be the strange thing about this situation.

Two updates on long-running stories

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard an update on Chris Comer’s ongoing battle with the Texas Education Agency. She was fired over forwarded email, sued TEA, lost in March 2009, and is now appealing.) The Washington Post has an update.

I don’t think this is going to go well for Comer, because the article reports that she admits she broke policy (emphasis added).

James Ho, Texas' solicitor general, said Comer doesn't dispute that her e-mail violated the agency's neutrality policy.

“This is a policy of employee neutrality, and neutrality is the touchstone of the establishment clause,” Ho said. “It’s certainly not a violation of it.”

The agency says Comer was fired for “repeated subordination.” Besides violating the neutrality policy, she allegedly attended meetings and presentations without agency approval and disclosed details of the school board's deliberations to non-board members.

“What makes this case unique is that there is a pattern of misconduct,” Ho said.

I’ve always thought that the strongest argument for her case would be to say that her actions did not violate neutrality. Reasonable people do not see a forwarded email with the three letter addition of “FYI” as “endorsement.” I don’t think she’s going to win.

Meanwhile, The New American interviews Don McLeroy on the Texas K-12 teaching standards. Most of it concerns the social studies and English standards, about which I have no comment, as I have no expertise. On the science standards, McLeroy’s happiness does not comfort me:

“Science was amazing. We hit a grand-slam there — pitched a no-hit shut out.” He said the new standards give students the opportunity to learn not only how things work (the effect) but also why they work (the cause). The guidelines allow students to question evolutionary claims on a scientific basis.

If you think that his recent electoral defeat means McLeroy will just go back to his dentistry practice, I hate to break it to you:

So what's next for this education crusader after his term expires in December 2010? “I've been on the board for 12 years and have learned so much. I have focused on education and have much to contribute,” he reflects. “I may write a book. I would like to go around the state to explain what the science standards say and how they can challenge evolutionary ideas.”

Emphasis added. McLeroy may be providing examples of how not to argue about science for a long, long, time.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 39

The NSCE website is reporting that Chris Comer is appealing the court decision that rejected her lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

I’ve followed this story closely since its beginning. Click the link if you really want the long, sad tale.

I do not claim to have any deep knowledge of the American legal system, but my impression from reading the judge’s summary is that an appeal will be hard to get.

The heart of the TEA’s argument against Comer’s lawsuit was that their policy does not allow endorsement. That being the case, I wonder if Comer’s complaint might have gotten further if it focused on whether reasonable individuals would agree that forwarding an email with “FYI” constitutes an “endorsement.”

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 38

The judge’s ruling in Chris Comer's case against the Texas Education Agency is on the NCSE website here. Judge Lee Yeakel’s decision has a fair amount of legal jargon, particularly at the start, but it’s reasonably understandable.

Comer’s lawyers argued that the Texas Education Agency (TEA), by having a “neutrality” policy on evolution, violated the first amendment of the U.S. constitution (the Establishment Clause) that separates Church and state. In particular, Comer’s lawyers used the “Lemon test” (named after a plaintiff, not the fruit) which has three “prongs” that are used to determine if an action violates that clause.

The TEA says they are neutral on all policies that the Texas State Board of Education might set. TEA don’t set the curriculum. And the judge agreed. Here’s a snippet from page 15.

Agency staff must remain neutral on contested curriculum issues, no only creationism and evolution. The policy is reasonable, given the elected body (Texas State Board of Education - ZF) the Agency supports. The Agency supports 15 elected Board members who often disagree among themselves regarding curriculum issues and who make final decisions regarding such disputed issues. Agency staff, by virtue of their job description, must avoid acting in ways that favor any particular Board member’s position.

This seems to be the legal crux of the decision. The decision also notes that religious ideas may benefit from TEA’s neutrality policy, but this is an incidental effect.

In light of the recent vote on Texas K-12 science standards, however, I find this bit in Judge Yeakel’s decision very interesting.

The State “readily agree[s] that if the Board chooses to consider including some kind of recognition of alternatives to evolutionary theory in the biology curriculum, it will be entering perilous waters,” but that is the Board’s voyage to weather.

We’ll see how rough the waters get in about two years, when textbook adoptions come up.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 37

Christina Comer’s lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency has been dismissed, according to the Dallas News. There is no explanation of the judge’s rationale for the dismissal.

I’ve blogged about this story extensively if you need background information.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 36

The Evo.Sphere blog has a lengthy analysis of the forced resignation of Chris Comer. This ananlysis was prompted by what author Steve Schafersman calls "an act of unparalleled malice", namely releasing many personnel files related to Ms. Comer.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 35

The news about Chris Comer's suit against the Texas Education Agency has started hitting the press. Mostly in Texas, as evidenced by articles in The Austin American-Statesman) and News 8 Austin.

The News 8 Austin piece commits the soundbite problem: Here's one person on each side, now decide which apparently equally valid viewpoint is right.

"Intelligent design is credible, there are things that intelligent design begins to explain that evolution cannot," creationism supporter Lane Wood said.

Like... what, exactly?

It's interesting that News 8 calls Wood a "creationist" and not an "intelligent design proponent." Which shows again the "ID has nothing to do with religion!" to be pure fiction.

But there's some national awareness, too, as seen by this USA Today piece. Which characterizes one woman's forced resignation, loss of income and benefits, and resulting struggle to support her father as a "tiff."

Yeah.

Note to USA Today: A tiff is what happens when you can't agree with a friend over what flavour of cheesecake to order for dessert. You don't get fired over tiffs.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 34

The National Center for Science Education has posted a PDF of Chris Comer's suit against Robert Scott and the Texas Education Agency.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 33

Oh, now this is interesting:

Now, Comer has filed – in federal court – to get her job back and her name cleared.

Of course, "Comer" is Chris Comer, former employee of the Texas Education Agency (TEA). She forwarded an email announcing a lecture about intelligent design, and was later asked to resign.

Comer is asking for reinstatement, for a judgment finding the TEA at fault and for reimbursement for legal fees.

The TEA was not available for comment late Wednesday.

Let me make a prediction as to what the TEA will say. "This wasn't just about the email, it was also about a whole slew of other policy violations." That's what they've been saying all along. And some of the released documentation does support that contention. Whether the infamous bone-headed statement about the Agency's neutrality on evolution is going to be enough for a judge to support Comer's case is not at all clear.

For those who want an reminder of how this story has unfolded, click here (reverse chronological order, so skip to the back and bottom and go up).

Also reported in Dallas Morning News here.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 32

The Austin Chronicle's Naked City blog comments on the recent announcement of Kenneth Heydrick as the science director for the Texas Education Agency:

The Texas Education Agency has offered the job of science coordinator to Kenn Heydrick. That should quash the conspiracy theorists who speculated that the agency removed former coordinator Chris Comer last year to replace her with someone who supports intelligent design.

Emphasis added.

It's a little premature to conclude that, "Evolution could not have been the reason for someone's dismissal, because the position was filled by someone supportive of teaching evolution." Let's not forget that Chris Comer's forced resignation attracted national news attention negative to the state of Texas, almost all of which was extremely negative. There was some in very strong advocacy from university professors on the part of teaching evolution. It is at least conceivable that some people in hiring positions noted this, and realized that hiring anyone with weak credentials or wishy-washy views on the subject of evolution would make a lot of people look very, very bad.

This may well have been a case where vigilance worked.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 31

Kenneth Heydrick (pictured) is the new Texas Education Agency science coordinator. This used to be Chris Comer's job.

The press release says that he has edited a biology textbook, though I can't find what it is, and that his first degree is in biology. Even more encouraging, an Austin American-Statesman Homeroom blog notes:

Heydrick has stood up to attempts to weaken teaching evolution in the past, asking the State Board of Education in a 2003 hearing on textbooks not to require changes in textbooks to water-down evolution lessons or add “nonscientific alternatives such as intelligent design.”

Another article notes:

Heydrick, who worked as a high school science teacher for 10 years, has held several state and national leadership positions, serving as immediate past president of the Science Teachers Association of Texas and on the State Board of Education's earth science task force.

I can't resist quoting a snipe from the American-Statesman blog, though:

And his current boss at Pflugerville says he’s good at working with teachers and working with others, plus he’s got seven dogs and four cats. Because being an animal lover obviously makes him better qualified to shape the state science curriculum.

Ha!

This appears to be good news on the face of it. Certainly, there had to be the worry on whether the TEA would try to hire someone with weak credentials in biology. But he appears to have the chops.

Two major antievolution stories in Texas are ending on an optimistic note in the same week. Interesting.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 30

This video of Chris Comer describing her firing is up at an National Center for Science Education website devoted to the film Expelled. I haven't been blogging about Expelled, because many, many people have repeatedly identified it as a highly suspicious propaganda film. Not all that much to add there.

No new information there, really, but worthwhile to hear the story from Ms. Comer.

Also, the position she used to hold at the Texas Education Agency is still showing as vacant.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 29

It's been almost two months since the position for the Director of Science curriculum of the Texas Education Agency closed. This used to be Chris Comer's job.

And yet, the contacts list for the TEA Science Unit still shows no replacement.

Now, hiring someone in a bureaucracy can take a long time. I've been a search committee chair in a university -- I know this firsthand. But I wonder how long it will take to fill? Will it fill before the science standards are reviewed? Will there be any attention from the media, blogosphere, and the like when it does fill?

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 28

The Washington Independent has an article that focuses on Arkansas and its former governor and current American presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. It refers a bit to Chris Comer's situation in Texas:

Chris Comer, who held the same position in the Texas schools, was not so lucky. The Texas Department of Education forced out Comer in November after she forwarded an email to colleagues about an upcoming speech by a pro-evolution philosopher. Her boss, Lizette Reynolds, whom George W. Bush had hired while governor of Texas, called her on the carpet and removed her. “I’ll never get hired in Texas education again,” she said. ...

The removal of Comer was deeply preoccupying to Fulton and other biology teachers, both because was a manifestly unjust, stupid act (Emphasis added. -ZF), and because Texas science textbooks are used by Arkansas and other states. “All Chris did was forward an email, which is exactly what my boss wouldn’t have wanted me to do and exactly what I would have done,” Fulton said. “It could have been me.”

The most disturbing part of the article for me was that it claims fully 10% of teachers teach pure creationism. Now, the article doesn't say whether those are public school teachers, because that would be illegal. I suppose it's possible those 10% belong to private schools.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 27 and Texas science standards, Part 2

A lengthy post at The Atheist Experience blog describes a meeting in Austin concerning science standards, especially evolution.

I particularly wanted to note that Chris Comer spoke at this event. She provided an interesting -- okay, distressing -- inside view:

Comer did tell us that the "forces at play here are huge" and that the whole situation concerning science education in Texas is "far worse than I ever, ever dreamed it would be." As an indicator of just how thin the ice is on which we're all skating: there is an end-of-course biology test, currently optional, that will be required of all Texas students as of 2012. Last month there was an attempt to remove all references to evolution from this test, and it almost worked.

The whole post is worth looking at, although as an atheist blog, it contains some opinions that are not charitable to the religious, fundamentalist or not. But the information seems credible.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 26

I'm not sure if this should be a new thread, as it only tangentially concerns Chris Comer, but it does follow directly from concerns about the Texas Board of Education, led by Don McLeroy. The Dallas News reports that the Board rejected a school math textbook:

Conservative individuals and groups that say they favor traditional math instruction have voiced several concerns about Everyday Mathematics.

In general, they say it relies too much on calculators and peer activities rather than focusing on more traditional approaches such as having students memorize multiplication tables for automatic recall.

Interestingly, there is some data about the book's performance:

In Dallas, officials rolled out Everyday Mathematics books in kindergarten through sixth grade at 19 schools with low math scores during the 2000-01 school year. By the end of the year, only two of those schools still had low scores; a year later, none of them did, said Camille Malone, DISD's director of mathematics.

If there's this sort of quarrel over math, which is about as cut and dry as it gets, imagine what's going to be happening over science textbooks.

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 25

From NCSE's Eugenie Scott:

Dear Friends,

You all know about Chris Comer, the director of science curriculum at the Texas Education Agency who was forced to resign after forwarding an announcement of a talk by “intelligent design” critic Barbara Forrest. The grounds for forcing her out were insubordination, because she “took a position on” the subject of evolution. Apparently, her superiors believe that the person responsible for science education in the state should somehow be “neutral” on the organizing principle of biology.

Chris is undergoing what we hope will be a temporary cash flow problem until she can find a new job. If you feel that you can help — even $5, $10, $20, or $50 would help— you can make a donation directly to Chris. You would not only be helping a good person who stood up for the integrity of science education, you would also be showing appreciation for her many years of working at the TEA to improve science education in Texas.

If you wish to contribute, you can send a donation of whatever amount to Chris’s PayPal account. Go to PayPal.com, click on the “send money” button, and put Chris’s e-mail address in the “To” box. Chris’s e-mail address is chris.comer@live.com. For those of you who would prefer to send a check, make it payable to Chris Comer and send it to Chris Comer, c/o NCSE, 420 40th Street, Suite 2, Oakland CA 94609, and we will forward it to her.

Thanks so much for reading this.

Genie

Texas Education Agency and Chris Comer, Part 24

Lauri Lebo (pictured at left), the local reporter who covered the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial and author of the upcoming book Devil in Dover, has an article in the Washington Spectator that discusses Chris Comer's situation in some detail and has a few new comments from some of the people involved, such as Don McLeroy.

Leaving the constitutional legal matter of such a maneuver aside, what aspects of evolution does McLeroy consider controversial? He cites the principle of common descent, in particular the idea that humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor, as one debatable issue. Yet in the science community, there is no controversy over the idea that all living organisms are descended from a shared ancestor. The mapping of the genetic code in recent years has only confirmed anew scientific support for life's universal connection.

Still, McLeroy says he isn't interested in pushing creationism. "I resent the notion that I'm speaking in code," he said. But in Texas, just as in Dover and in other earlier battles in Kansas and Ohio, the scientific arguments of evolution's critics are intertwined with their religious views.

And the article ends with a description of what Comer has been facing since her forced resignation. I've added the emphasis, because I do think it needs to be emphasized that Chris Comer has been harmed.

As both sides wait to see how this will play out, Christine Comer is adjusting to caring for her disabled father and paying her bills on a pension that provides less than the salary she lost. "But I feel like this is my contribution," she said. "This is my time to draw my line in the sand for science."

She had watched what took place in Dover and remembers being outraged at the time. "But I guess I wasn't outraged enough," she said. Because she never did anything about it.

Now, teachers she knows in small towns across Texas have come to her to say they've been forced to teach creationism in science class for years. She asked them why they didn't do anything about it. "Come on," they told her. "What can I do? It's Texas."

I had the good fortune to talk to Eugenie Scott at the SICB meeting about the Comer and ICR stories, which I've been blogging so much about. I asked her why the ICR story has been so much quieter than the Comer story, and she said it was partly the writer's strike, and partly because Comer was a martyr, so to speak. I certainly have been avoiding that term, because it is emotional and easy to overuse. But during her presentation, Dr. Scott mentioned that Chris Comer is struggling financially right now. She indicated that anyone who was interested in finding out what they could do to help support Ms. Comer could email Eugenie Scott at the NCSE.

SICB, day 3

Argh! Why does wi-fi work on Thursday but not Friday?

Lots of stuff going on today. Today was tough for me personally, because there were talks on evolution and neurobiology and crustaceans -- which is kind of my trifecta. I gave up on neurobiology, and just flitted back and forth between the other two.

Barbara Forest gave one of my favourite talks today -- wonderfully energetic, forceful, direct, concise. She dedicated her talk to Chris Comer, about which I have written much recently, as it was an announcement of Forest's talk that precipitated Comer's forced resignation. The dedication received some applause throughout the audience. Not a huge number, as I think not everyone was aware of the story. But more know now. Forest's talk was, "Still creationism after all these years," showing that intelligent design is creationism, end of story. A lot of other fine talks on teaching evolution, too, talking about the inadequacies of lecturing, and how creationist ideas can be talked about in a class in an effective way.

Another highlight was seeing an IMAX film called "Volcanoes of the Deep." I love movies, I like the IMAX format a lot, and this one has some brilliant undersea footage from deep sea hydrothermal vents. Carrying on with a theme, this film was not allowed to play in some cities because some people objected to some of the evolutionary content. And it had lots of crustaceans in it, which I also liked.

I was also pleased to talk to several people about Marmorkrebs, which generated uniformly high interest. That I also liked, and does help convince me I might have something useful for people. (That website again: http://marmorkrebs.org!)

Tomorrow: two posters to give!

Texas Higher Education and Creation Research, Part 6

The Austin American-Statesman, which did such a fine job breaking the Chris Comer story, has an editorial today that reaches big. It says the fight brewing over evolution does nothing less than "threaten Texas." I have to admit that I find "threaten Texas" to be a little overblown. Texas will continue to exist regardless of the outcomes of these processes. It may be intellectually and economically poorer, may have less prestige, may have fewer scientists willing to live here -- but the state, as a whole, is not threatened.

The editorial also calls for the Governor (pictured) to get involved.

Now is the time for Gov. Rick Perry to step up and halt the bloodletting before it does serious harm to the state’s reputation, economy and future. ...

Perry should not sit idly by while this potentially devastating issue unfolds in national headlines. He appointed Scott and McLeroy, and he should derail any efforts to downgrade evolution in Texas schools.

The editorial gives more encouraging signs concerning Raymund Paredes's take on the ICR's application:

Raymund Paredes, Texas’ higher education commissioner, said he is evaluating the report from the team that recommended approving the science course. He’s not happy with it and is actively gathering more information ahead of next month’s board meeting.

Emphasis added.