Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6A
- FORSYTH COUNTY news - Wednesday, February 4,2004
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Photo/submitted
Celebration
Gainesville College's first president, Hugh Mills, cen
ter, joins Gainesville College president Martha
Nesbitt and North Georgia College & State
University President Emeritus John Owen in cutting
a cake celebrating the 20th anniversary of the part
nership of Gainesville College and NGCSU that
began in 1984. Five current and former presidents of
those institutions were present at a reception on
Jan. 27 in the GC Continuing Education/Performing
Arts Center. Currently, about 450 students are
enrolled in the collaborative academic courses that
have included nursing, business administration, edu
cation, public administration, criminal justice and
computer information systems classes during the
past 20 years.
State super defends
curriculum change
plan at Duluth event
Kathy Cox says courses need update
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
Georgia Superintendent of
Schools Kathy Cox defended
her proposed school curricu
lum changes against accusa
tions of inadequacy during a
community meeting at
Northview High School in
Duluth Thursday night.
Top on the list of parent,
student and educator concerns
were the omission of the word
“evolution” and other content
changes in the new curricu
lum. The Georgia Performance
Standards will replace the cur
rent Quality Core Curriculum
(QCC) established by the
Quality Basic Education Act
of 1986 and updated every
four years.
During a question-and
answer session. Northview
biology teacher Bonnie Pratt
addressed concerns that evolu
tion would not be taught in
biology. Thursday morning, an
Atlanta newspaper published
an article claiming that many
of the concepts of human evo
lution and the word itself were
not included in the curriculum.
Instead, “evolution” is referred
to as “biological changes over
time.”
“The [newspaper] hasn’t
been completely accurate,”
Cox said. “They were trying to
get something stifled up and
they succeeded."
The word “evolution” was
not included in the curriculum.
Cox said, because of public
reaction to the word. When
people hear the word evolu
tion. they immediately picture
a monkey turning into a man,
Cox said.
“There’s nothing wrong
with the word, just the way
people view it,” Cox said.
“What you’re doing in the
current biology class is a far
cry from what people picture
when they hear this word.” she
told Pratt.
Ironically, the curriculum
draft may have invited more
opposition by omitting “evolu
tion" than if it was included.
Forsyth County Schools
Curriculum Coordinator Dawn
Souter served on the original
team of state educators that
developed the proposed sci
ence curriculum. Among other
national resources, this team
drew from the learning goals
suggested by the American
Association for the
Advancement of Science
(AAAS). Souter said.
The AAAS standards
include the following goals for
learning about human develop
ment. including evolution and
mutation, according to the
AAAS Web site:
"By the end of the eighth
grade, students should know
that fossil evidence is consis
tent with the idea that human
beings evolved from earlier
species.
"By the end of the 12th
grade, students should know
that:
•As successive generations
of an embryo's cells form by
division, small differences in
their immediate environments
cause them to develop slightly
differently, by activating or
inactivating different parts of
the DNA information.”
In the drafted Georgia
Performance Standards, con
cepts like mutation are present
without the vocabulary term,
evolution, that unites those
concepts.
“Students will be familiar
with the development of living
organisms and their, changes
over time, including inherited
characteristics that lead to sur
vival of organisms and their
successive generations,” the
proposed Georgia Biology
Standards read.
Souter said at the science
textbook adoption three years
ago for Forsyth County
Schools, no parents said they
were uncomfortable with evo
lution in the curriculum.
A Northview student
stepped up to the microphone
Thursday regarding another
perceived omission in the
Georgia Performance
Standards. Greek and Roman
history is not included in the
draft for high school studies.
Cox explained that the
Georgia Performance
Standards spread the history
curriculum over all grades
instead of cramming every
thing into high school.
Consequently, ancient history
is taught in middle grades.
“We have sold our kids
short by thinking that we have
' See COX Page 7A
EDUCATION
County share of funds to drop: official
By Nicole Green
Staff Writer
State budget figures
released by the governor’s
Office of Planning and Budget
last week painted a rosy pic
ture of Forsyth County gain
ing $3.9 million in 2005.
However, these figures are
not entirely accurate, school
officials say. Cast the figures
in another light and there are
no winners in this budget
only losers.
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“As with anything, you
have to look behind the num
bers and see what this comes
from,” Forsyth County
Schools finance director Dan
Jones said.
Under Gov. Sonny
Perdue’s proposed budget, the
state will decrease Quality
Basic Education (QBE) fund
ing by S3BO million. As a part
of QBE cuts, Forsyth would
lose $5.4 million.
QBE partially covers
teacher and administrator
salaries, facilities maintenance
and operations, staff training,
pupil transportation, nursing
services, special education,
English for Speakers of Other
Languages and gifted educa
tion.
Local funding picks up the
rest of the bill. Forsyth County
Schools are 57 percent locally
funded, though Article VIII of
the Georgia Constitution gives
the state government the “pri
mary obligation” for public
education.
This budget year,
ends June 30, Forsyth County
Schools will have received
$61.6 million in state funding.
Due to what is expected to
be increased enrollment by
about 2,000 students in the
new fiscal year, which begins
July 1, Forsyth County would
be owed $7.2 million from the
state for growth funding. It
should also receive $1.4 mil
lion to fund the state's pro-
See BUDGET, Page 7A