Pennsylvania School District Cancels Creationism Seminar

On January 24, 2002, the West Greene school board voted 6-2 to allow young-earth creationist Steve Grohman (who maintains a web site at ) to address students during an assembly during school hours on March 25. Those not wishing to attend could choose not to do so. High school principal Brian Jackson reviewed a tape from Grohman, who asserts that evolution is not true science and that both creationism and evolution should be taught in public schools, according to a story in the Washington, Pennsylvania, Observer-Reporter on January 25. Subsequently, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, Witold Walczak, wrote to the school board to warn that the planned assembly is unconstitutional; in his letter, Walczak remarked, "In 1925, the ACLU represented John Scopes in the famous Tennessee 'Monkey Trial.' That is the last time we have lost one of these cases." On March 1, the Observer-Reporter reported that in its meeting on February 28, the school board voted 6-3 to cancel Grohman's presentation.