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scuttle Butt
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“It is a completely nonpolitical, nonpartisan organization created by the first lady, who as an engineer and the mother of three children, has a passion for helping our young people learn science and math. Anything other than this reality has plainly been dreamed up by partisan hacks living in a fantasy land.” — Kyle Plotkin, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s press secretary, responding to a March 3 New York Times article, which enumerated major corporate donors to the Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana’s Children. According to the Times, “The foundation has collected nearly $1 million in previously unreported pledges from major oil companies, insurers and other corporations in Louisiana with high-stakes regulatory issues” — including Marathon Oil and AT&T, both of which donated $250,000 to the first lady’s charity.
Weird Science ZACK KOPPLIN WON THE FIGHT TO KEEP “ALTERNATIVES TO EVOLUTION” OUT OF LOUISIANA BIOLOGY TEXTBOOKS. HIS NEXT GOAL: REPEALING THE ACT ALLOWING CREATIONISM TO BE TAUGHT IN LOUISIANA PUBLIC SCHOOLS. BY KEVIN ALLMAN
W
High school senior Zack Kopplin is leading the fight to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008. The next month, the BESE board at large agreed, and the Baton Rouge Advocate wrote an editorial calling the high school senior “the newest giantkiller in state education policy.” But Kopplin doesn’t intend to stop there. His next target: overturning the Louisiana Science Information Act. HIGH SCHOOL BIOLOGY ITSELF MAY BE AN ENDANgered species, according to a survey analyzed in January by Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer, political science professors at Pennsylvania State University. Examining data from the National Survey of High School Biology Teachers, they found 28 percent taught evolution, while 13 percent “explicitly advocated creationism or intelligent design.” The remainder (“the cautious 60 percent”) fell somewhere in the middle. The professors concluded, “Our data show these teachers understandably want to avoid controversy.”
“The party’s on probation. Voters are willing to give you a chance. If you don’t follow through it’s a pretty short probationary period.” — Gov. Bobby Jindal, speaking about the GOP election victories of November 2010. Jindal gave The Washington Post his thoughts on what the Republican field of presidential candidates should be doing, while once again denying he had any eye on the Oval Office. Asked if he was interested in a vice-presidential run in 2012, Jindal said it was “obnoxious to speculate.”
STORMY OUTLOOK
The Rev. Grant Storms, who made national headlines in the last decade when he attempted to shut down the annual Southern Decadence festival in the French Quarter, was arrested in Jefferson Parish on an obscenity charge Feb. 25. Storms, PAGE 16
c'est what? DO YOU GIVE UP SOMETHING FOR LENT?
35% 40% YES
NO
25%
SOME YEARS
Vote on “c’est what?” on bestofneworleans.com THIS WEEK’S QUESTION
Would you support the SUNO/UNO merger that’s been discussed?
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BoUQuets
THIS WEEK’S HEROES AND ZEROES
The New Orleans Ballet Association (NOBA)
received national recognition and a grant from the MetLife Foundation Creative Aging Program for its community senior citizen dance program, which provides classes for more than 100 local senior citizens. It’s the third year NOBA has achieved this recognition, and 20 members of the dance program will perform at the Greater New Orleans Senior Olympics at Clearview Mall in Metairie March 12.
Justin Magrath,
a sophomore at Fontainebleau High School in Mandeville, is one of four Louisiana finalists for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, given annually to students in grades 7-12 who make a positive difference in their communities. In 2008, Magrath created an environmental program called “Green Mandeville” and since then has built birdhouses, cleaned up litter and planted trees. National honorees for the award will be announced in May.
Rudolph Matas Elementary School students
collected more than a ton of Mardi Gras beads to be used in an art project that will be part of an international exhibit. The Metairie school’s students will create a dozen 16-square-foot bead artworks depicting staples of Louisiana cuisine, including red beans and rice, king cake and other delicacies. The children will work with Tama Distler, the school’s arts facilitator, and local artist Stephan Wanger, who specializes in using recycled items in his artworks.
Ruth Leslie Goodman
was sentenced Feb. 23 by U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan to more than three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud, theft and other charges. Goodman ran several Hurricane Katrina-related scams to defraud the Road Home Program and FEMA of more than $476,000. Goodman, a New Orleans resident, wrote romance novels as “Meagan McKinney,” with bodice-ripping titles that included No Choice But Surrender and My Wicked Enchantress.
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > marcH 08 > 2011
hen the Louisiana legislature approved the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA) by an overwhelming margin in 2008, supporters of “intelligent design” creationism rejoiced; the LSEA would allow public school educators to introduce “supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials” in the classroom, paving the way for — among other things — biology textbooks that cast doubt on evolution and discussed creationism. Several powerful state interests supported the move, from Gov. Bobby Jindal (who signed the LSEA into law) to the influential Louisiana Family Forum (LFF). But when Zack Kopplin, a student at Baton Rouge Magnet School, heard the decision, his reaction was “disbelief.” In November, Kopplin appeared before the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), where the Textbook Advisory Council was deciding whether to purchase new biology texts. Since the council only meets every seven years, the information in the books chosen would have long-lasting impact in a state with the fourthworst graduation rate in the country. The Rev. Gene Mills, president of the LFF, told the panel the new textbooks under consideration were “biased” toward evolution. Kopplin — wearing an orange hoodie and blue jeans — disagreed. “All the Louisiana Science Education Act does is create an unconstitutional loophole to sneak the teaching of creationism or intelligent design in public school science classes,” Kopplin testified, saying it would “embarrass our state” and hinder the success of Louisiana graduates. “Please stand tall and endorse life science textbooks that teach real science rather than undermine it,” he concluded. What happened next made news in science circles around the country: The council sided with Kopplin in an 8-4 vote.
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