DATE: Thursday, May 15, 1997                TAG: 9705150448

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   53 lines

PARENT APPEALS BOARD'S VOTE NOT TO BAN TEXTBOOK CHESAPEAKE MOTHER TAKES ISSUE OF TEACHING EVOLUTION AS THEORY OR FACT TO CIRCUIT COURT.

A decision on how evolution is taught in the district is now in the hands of Chesapeake Circuit Court.

Carol Johnson, the mother of a seventh grader at Hickory Middle School, filed a petition Wednesday appealing an April 14 School Board decision to continue using a biology book she had challenged, saying it teaches evolution as fact, not as scientific theory.

The board also rejected Johnson's request that the district provide balanced teaching of intelligent design theory - more commonly known as creation science theory - alongside the teaching of evolutionary theory.

In both cases, the board was upholding the decisions of Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols and a committee of parents, teachers and administrators that reviewed the textbook last fall.

Johnson's petition labeled the board's decision as ``arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion'' and said the board denied Johnson's request by incorrectly characterizing her intent as religious.

``The Petitioner (Johnson) is not promulgating a religious view or theory be taught in the Chesapeake Public Schools,'' the petition reads. ``She is advocating the current textbook presents the theory of evolution as fact, not theory.''

The petition further states that ``both the theory of evolution and the theory of intelligent design have scientific grounding and well respected support.''

Wednesday afternoon, the school administration had yet to see the suit and declined to comment on it, said Tom Cupitt, the district's spokesman. The board's attorney, James A. Roy, was unavailable for comment.

In April, Nichols, while denying Johnson's specific requests, recommended that the district purchase copies of ``Of Pandas and People,'' a supplementary textbook suggested by Johnson, and place them in each of the secondary school libraries as reference material for students with questions about intelligent design theory.

Nichols also recommended that the science curriculum committee add a section better explaining the meanings of scientific terms such as ``theory'' and ``hypothesis.''

On Monday, the board voted that those actions alone would sufficiently address the concerns Johnson had raised.

Johnson's suit suggests otherwise.

Linda L. Kennedy, one of Johnson's attorneys, said Johnson has worked within the system and has tried to present legal options that would have averted a potentially costly lawsuit.

``We're just coming to the aid of a concerned parent,'' said Kennedy. ``They're (the School Board) drawing the line, not Carol Johnson.'' KEYWORDS: CREATIONISM CHESAPEAKE SCHOOLS

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