School Board to Tackle Controversial Global Warming Policy

The Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education is poised to revise a controversial policy that down on the district last spring.

At tonight's board meeting, trustees are being asked to give final approval to a revamped policy for teaching “controversial topics” such as global warming. The new proposal emphasizes critical thinking skills.

The revised policy stands in contrast to the board’s decision in May to require teachers of the high school’s new Advanced Placement Environmental Sciences course to give an annual presentation on how they're teaching the class. When the first measure passed, Board Member Jeffrey Barke expressed skepticism toward global warming and educators’ ability to adequately teach the topic.

“Most teachers are left of center, and if we leave it to teachers to impose their liberal views, then it would make for an unbalanced lesson,”. “Some people believe that global warming is a crock of crap, and others are zealots.”

The policy and Barke’s comments attracted and threats of a recall locally. However, the attention paid to Barke’s comments distorted the board’s intent, according to Board President Karen Russell.

“There was an interpretation or rhetoric that the board thought the teachers weren’t going to do their job, and that was not the case. That’s not what I believe the rest of the board intended it to be,” said Russell, a former science teacher. “Originally, I went along with it because I thought that the teacher teaching the class was OK with it, but it turns out the teacher was not OK with it, and some of the teachers were a little upset.”

If the board approves the change in policy, environmental science teachers at Los Alamitos High School would not have to automatically demonstrate a politically balanced curriculum to the board. As with any controversial subject, individual board members could choose to request a presentation from the school on the course.

Almost a month into the school year, the board has not requested a presentation on the environmental science class or any other controversial topic.

"The board could still require the principal or teacher to come give a presentation,” said Russell. “The goal is to get kids thinking critically, to go through all the facts and decide what evidence was the most compelling.”

Tonight's board meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at10293 Bloomfield Street, Los Alamitos.