Thoughts in a Haystack

The Rio Rancho New Mexico school board has rejoined the 21th century after a sojourn in the 19th. According to KOAT in Albuquerque, the board "has dissolved a policy allowing alternative theories of evolution to be discussed in public school science classes" that had been in place since Aug. 22, 2005.

The board voted 3-2 in favor of rescinding the policy that had been originally adopted by an identical 3-2 vote. The difference was that two of the original three members in favor of teaching "alternative theories" are no longer on the board.

The story puts the situation well:

Opponents have said the policy was a tactic to teach intelligent design. That's a theory that life on earth is too complex to have developed through evolution, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation. Nearly all scientists dismiss it as a scientific theory.

The old policy of "balance," whereby ID was treated as an equal to science in the media seems, thankfully, to be harder to find.
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Update: New Mexicans for Science and Reason has more information about the policy and the vote and three of its members, Marshall Berman, Kim Johnson and Dave Thomas, have a detailed post about it up at The Panda's Thumb. Good work, guys!
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