From an email from the National Center for Science Education:
The Texas Board of Education is at it again, this time aiming to insert creationism into high school biology classes via textbook “supplements” (such as those from International Databases, LLC). The other goal: to force mainstream publishers to rewrite their supplements to de-emphasize or undermine evolution education.
We’re talking heated debate among board members, contentious testimony from the public, followed by an equally contentious Board vote the next day.
The science textbook supplement finalists: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/tea/RSSM_CommissionerFinalRecommendations1.pdf
The details:
THURSDAY, JULY 21
Public testimony before the Board of Education, followed by Board debate.When: 10 a.m. Four hours of testimony. 2 minutes per person.
Where:
Room 1-104, First Floor
William B. Travis Building
1701 North Congress
Austin, TexasAgenda (for “Committee of the Full Board”): http://www.texasadmin.com/agenda.php?confid=TEA_FB072111&dir=tea
Agenda item: “4. Public Hearing Regarding Instructional Materials Submitted for Adoption by the State Board of Education Under The Request for Supplemental Science Materials”
Live video feed:
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=3876
http://www.texasadmin.com/tea.shtml***Note: Texas Freedom Network will hold a press conference before the hearing (before 10 a.m.), in the Texas Education Agency building. Speaking: TFN President Kathy Miller, Josh Rosenau from NCSE, Prof. Ron Wetherington from Southern Methodist University, and more.
FRIDAY, JULY 22
The board votes on the biology science supplementsWhen: 9 a.m.
Where:
Room 1-104, First Floor
William B. Travis Building
1701 North Congress
Austin, TexasAgenda (for “General meeting”: http://www.texasadmin.com/agenda.php?confid=TEA_GM072211&dir=tea
Live video feed:
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=3876
http://www.texasadmin.com/tea.shtml
See here, here, and here for some background, and this Chron story for more. TFN Insider will be liveblogging the proceedings, and I’ll try to keep an eye on things as they go, too. Hair Balls and the Trib have more.
UPDATE: More ways to follow the action:
What’s happening minute by minute? There are two live feeds worth checking out, starting tomorrow at 10a.m.
NCSE’s Josh Rosenau will be covering the event live via Twitter (http://twitter.com/ncse) in the morning. After lunch, he’ll switch to his blog, http://scienceblogs.com/tfk/.
Steven Schafersman from Texas Citizens for Science will likewise be blogging live from the Texas board of education meeting tomorrow, starting at 10 a.m. Go to: https://www.texasobserver.org/authors/stevenschafersman.