We did it!! The Federal Way School Board lifted the ban on Gore's film

Thanks for all your emails to the Federal Way School Board. Now the students will get the facts. Here is the story.


Board lifts ban on Gore's film
The Associated Press


FEDERAL WAY - The Federal Way School Board has lifted its two-week moratorium on the global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," and members of a Yakima high school after-school club await a decision from school officials on whether they can show the film.

The film scored two Oscar nominations this week - for best documentary feature and best original song.

Dozens of people showed up at a Tuesday night school board meeting here, many disapproving and others supporting the district's temporary moratorium that began Jan. 9.

Many people said they were concerned about the board's view that the film was controversial and thus subject to district policy on such films.

"One concern I have is, 'What is considered controversial?' " said Tisa Kosbab, a parent.

Paul Levy, a Federal Way resident, told the board there was nothing controversial about the film.

"There is no scientific controversy," Levy said about the idea that humans cause global warming. It was "a controversy created by nonprofessionals creating a smoke screen."

The discussion soon grew into a broader debate about fact and fiction and politics in the classroom.

"We're looking for education, not indoctrination," said Bill Pirkle, a Federal Way resident.

School board members had imposed the temporary moratorium on showings of the film as they awaited a report from the district superintendent on whether teachers were following district policies that require them to get films approved by their principals and, in the case of controversial materials, point out bias and present an opposing view.

Teachers at three high schools had shown parts of the film with other points of view, but did not get written approval from principals beforehand, district Superintendent Tom Murphy told the board Tuesday night.

The controversy began after the district distributed a newsletter that notified teachers about free copies of the film for use in classrooms. Some parents complained.

In Yakima, members of Eisenhower High School's Environmental Club had planned last week to show the film after school, but the school's principal put the brakes on the screening when she heard about the plans.

"This is not how we handle supplemental materials," Principal Stacey Locke said.

School board policy requires that the instructional materials committee - made up of school administrators, teachers and parents - review the film, "and if there is another side, have that presented," said Jack Irion, deputy superintendent of Yakima Public Schools.

After the committee makes its recommendation, Locke will make the final decision.

The story is from the 1/25/07 issue of the Olympian.

http://www.theolympian.com/120/story/62232.html