As the Florida state board of education prepared to consider a final draft of a new set of state science standards, Floridians offered their opinions at a last-minute meeting held in Orlando on February 11, 2008. Over eighty speakers addressed the state commissioner of education, Eric Smith, and, via webcast, the board. A video of the entire meeting is available on the department’s website. As the Orlando Sentinel (February 12, 2008) reported, “They came from one end of Florida to the other, and with views on evolution as far apart as the 800 miles that separate the Keys from the Panhandle.” Observers estimated that there were about twice as many speakers opposing the treatment of evolution in the new standards as there were speakers who applauded it. – National Center for Science Education
