CA School District Sued for Violating Civil Rights in Evolution Controversy

A California school district has been sued in federal court for violating a parent's civil rights during a controversy over how to teach evolution.

For more than a year, Larry Caldwell tried to get the Roseville Joint
Union High School District outside of Sacramento to consider changing how it
taught the theory of evolution in its biology classes. Caldwell, who has three
children, says he wanted the district to correct factual errors in its biology
textbooks as well as to introduce students to some scientific criticisms of
modern evolutionary theory. Caldwell did not propose that the district teach
creationism or alternatives to evolution.

The Roseville district ultimately rejected Caldwell's recommendations. But
in the process of trying to scuttle his proposals, Caldwell alleges that the
district repeatedly denied him rights and procedures normally afforded to
other citizens in the district, banned parents from speaking in favor of his
proposals at a public meeting, publicly attacked his personal religious
beliefs, spread false rumors about him, and even threatened to sue him and
other parents if they continued to speak out.

"These are tactics you'd expect in a banana republic, not the state of
California," said Caldwell.

"Mr. Caldwell's complaint describes a school district that appears to have
been out-of-control," said Dr. John West, Associate Director of Discovery
Institute's Center for Science and Culture. "Caldwell's proposals deserved to
be accepted or rejected on their merits. The school district's apparent
disregard for Mr. Caldwell's civil and constitutional rights is deeply
troubling."

Caldwell's 96-page complaint filed on Jan. 11 in U.S. District Court for
the Eastern District of California alleges repeated efforts, over the course
of a whole year, by the district to deprive him and others of their
constitutional rights, including:

-- A school board member publicly threatened Caldwell and other parents
with a lawsuit if they continued to exercise their First Amendment
rights by urging changes in how the district taught evolution.
-- At a public meeting held to obtain parental input about school
curriculum, parents were forbidden from speaking in favor of Caldwell's
proposals.
-- A district committee that was supposed to evaluate supplementary
science education materials proposed by Caldwell inappropriately
interrogated Caldwell and a scientist who supported him about their
personal religious beliefs.
-- District officials publicly attacked Caldwell for his personal
religious beliefs and spread false rumors about him in an effort to
stigmatize him in the public eye. At one point, the district claimed
that Caldwell had tried to get a school official to distribute a
religious tract, a claim that the district later admitted was false.

"School officials repeatedly acted as if free speech rights and other
constitutional guarantees applied only to those who agreed with them," said
Caldwell.