DATE: Tuesday, May 13, 1997                 TAG: 9705130283

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   59 lines

CHESAPEAKE BOARD VOTES NOT TO FORCE CREATIONISM IF IT'S NOT TAUGHT ALONGSIDE EVOLUTION, A PARENT'S LAWYER SAID, HE'LL FILE SUIT.

They may be sued, but School Board members voted overwhelmingly Monday to stand behind their earlier decision not to mandate the teaching of creation science.

Before the meeting Monday evening, the attorney for the parent who challenged a biology textbook used in Chesapeake schools said the board could avoid a lawsuit if it mandates side-by-side teaching of the theories of evolution and creation science.

Instead, the board voted 8-1 to follow Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols' recommendation that a supplementary textbook espousing intelligent-design theory - more commonly known as creation science - be placed in all secondary libraries. The vote also directed that a committee of science teachers meet over the summer to discuss the issue and add a section on scientific method to the science curriculum.

Barry R. Taylor, attorney for Carol Johnson, who challenged a biology textbook on the basis that it teaches evolution theory as fact, had said before the vote that the district's science teachers ``need to teach both theories side by side and leave the decision up to the students.''

If the board decided against that, Taylor said he probably would file a lawsuit, most likely today in Chesapeake Circuit Court, on Johnson's behalf. Neither Taylor nor Johnson was available for comment after the board voted.

Superintendent Nichols said it was important that any curriculum revisions be handled by the teachers, not the School Board.

``I hope we don't get to the point where the teachers write this and then have you all rewrite this,'' Nichols said. `` . . . I'm very uncomfortable telling them what to write. They have to use their own training.''

Board member James J. Wheaton said that whatever the teachers come up with over the summer, it is important that it be shared with parents.

``There's a tremendous amount of misunderstanding among people of all perspectives on this issue - about what is and isn't allowed in the classroom,'' Wheaton said.

Board member Patricia P. Willis, the lone dissenter, said she didn't think Nichols' recommendation went far enough. She said that while she wasn't for mandated or balanced teaching of creation science, she felt the district at least should place a statement in the science textbooks saying that evolution is a theory, not a fact, and that there are credible scientists who believe in other theories.

``There's no reason that they (students) can't debate this,'' Willis said. ``What we have now is indoctrination. We have censorship with the way our textbooks are presenting evolution.''

But even if the board had decided to place such a statement in its science textbooks, that still wouldn't be enough to avert a lawsuit, Taylor said.

Board member Thomas L. Mercer Sr. said many of the board members have struggled with how to make the best legal decision and that paying for a lengthy lawsuit might mean some educational programs would need to be cut.

``Not only is this going to be a very trying time,'' Mercer said, ``but it's also going to be a very expensive time.'' KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE SCHOOLS CREATIONISM

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