DARBY - Judy Parker works at Darby High School, and she's almost sure the school district will be sued if its trustees pass a change to the science curriculum that she believes violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
But Ella Springer is more interested in giving students a choice when it comes to evolutionary science. Never, she said, has she seen an "intermediate" species, so she's all for objective origins.
Trustees of the Darby School District were expected to vote on the proposal Monday, but they postponed their decision to take additional comment from attorneys at a continued meeting Wednesday night. The objective origins debate has embroiled the community, and Monday's meeting drew attendance from Missoula, Victor and Hamilton.
The board allowed 15-minute presentations from advocates and opponents of the policy, then allowed the public the chance to speak. Those who didn't speak Monday have another opportunity on Wednesday.
Curtis Brickley, a Bitterroot Valley minister with children coming into the district, has been the public face supporting the curriculum change. Using a well-produced computer presentation, Brickley told a crowd of more than 200 that "we will not be teaching Š creation science."
Instead, Brickley wants the district to teach "the controversy" he said exists in the scientific world where evolutionary theory is concerned. With slide after slide, Brickley showered the crowd with quotes from scientists who dissent from current evolutionary theory and who appear to support the notion that the world is the work of an intelligent designer.
Darby's teachers should teach their students about "qualified, responsible criticism of Darwinian evolution," Brickley said.
"That's what we're asking for," he said.
Brickley's remarks drew loud applause, but so too did the presentation by Rod Miner, who represented the Ravalli County Citizens for Science.
"These kids need more science, not less," Miner said.
But less is what they'll get, he said, if the district approves objective origins, which generally leads to discussions of the anti-evolutionary theory known as intelligent design.
Rob Crowther, the marketing and communications director for the Center for Science and Culture and the Discovery Institute, described intelligent design theory this way in an e-mail to the Missoulian: "The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."
Miner said intelligent design is interesting from a philosophical point of view, but he said it's not science. Intelligent design has no testable hypotheses, Miner said, and thus leads to no scientific theories.
"ID has no legitimacy in scientific theory," Miner said.
Despite some whispered dismissals of some speakers by some in the crowd, the hearing proceeded civilly. That civility was captured best by Steve Archibald, who said that many in the crowd disagreed with one another but that didn't mean they needed to be disagreeable when they meet in the grocery store.
As part of the hearing, the board also made public a letter from Deputy Ravalli County Attorney James McCubbin, who urged the district not to pass any curriculum change that has not been approved by the state.
"Failure to meet state standards for your curriculum could result in loss of accreditation for the Darby schools," McCubbin wrote. "This, in turn, could result in litigation and/or make the Darby schools ineligible to receive state and/or federal funding. Thus, it is absolutely imperative that your curriculum continue to meet those state standards."
Monday's meeting continues Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the gym at Darby Junior High School.
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or 370-3330, or by e-mail at mmoore@missoulian.com
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