Here is a brief account of the events at the standards hearing on Friday, from one of the spectators who has asked to remain anonymous.

Here is my account of what happened at the hearing yesterday. First, I got there about an hour late on account of the horrible road conditions, so I didn't hear the first part of the hearing.

The Agenda (as it actually happened):
1. Presentation of the Standards, Yecke
2. Testimony from Committee Members
3. Judy Schaubach, President of Education Minnesota (and Garnet Franklin)
4. Association of Metropolitan School Districts
5. John Calvert
6. Karen Effrem and Jean Swenson (Maple River)
7. Chris Macosko and Yvonne Boldt, (teacher from Providence Academy)
8. Mankato Public Schools
9. Robert Frey (the bone man)
10. Randy Moore and Jamie Crannell

I think that Yecke introduced committee members present and they may have said a few words at the beginning, but I don't know. Dave Eaton was up before I got there but I'm not sure where he fit in the agenda. When I got there, Yecke was up there with Beth Aune answering questions. Apparently the intent is to allow schools to meet the standards in grade bands rather than pinned to specific grades. There were a lot of questions about testing - and not many clear answers.

John Calvert: Evolution is religious because of it's insistence on non-theistic causes. There ought to be a requirement to inform students of the controversies surrounding evolution (in favor of the minority report). Spoke of some state (Louisiana?) that has placed "warning labels" on biology text books informing students that they contain controversial "theories" about life that are not facts, and that these are just theories and they are controversial. He felt this was a good model. Charged that science subscribes to natural materialism and works to show that there is no God - endorsing atheism and humanism (God Forbid!).

Effrem said that the standards were too focused on unbalanced environmentalism and promotion of evolution (among some other evils).

Macosko and Boldt spoke together (I think) - same stuff out of them that you would expect.

Robert Frey added a carnival like atmosphere. I felt as if I had stumbled onto the midway at the State Fair. The guy held up a 5 foot "replica" of a fossil human femur "from Wisconsin" that was representative of the many fossils uncovered around the world proving that there were giants on earth (I'm assuming there is some biblical reference to this). He said there is proof that the dinosaurs and humans were on the earth at the same time. Then he went on to blame every social woe in the past 40 year on the teaching of evolution. I guess we're advocating pure evil.

Moore and Crannell followed. Crannell said that the committee based its work on what is recognized by broad organizations of scientists (AAAS, NSF, NSTA, etc.) and included what they felt was important and left out what they felt should be left out. Somehow they must have missed the "giant" fossils.

They tried to refute the main points of what had been said. I won't speak as to how that came across 'cause I don't have a read for how it came across. I know that at least one guy was really pissed off at them as they were leaving the building and really angry that Kelly had put Randy and Jamie at the very end. So that tells me that they hit some nerves. Senator Olson engaged in some non-friendly questioning after Randy and Jamie had spoken, so I guess she is not in our camp.

MPR did a poor job of covering the hearing (from my perspective). They played a tape of Dave Eaton speaking and spoke about the minority report - but nothing about why it's a "minority" report.

Sounds like fun, in a stomach-churning, are-these-really-my-fellow-citizens sort of way. I hope we can count on Calvert and Frey showing up at more of these meetings.