News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The firing of Kris Helphinstine has made Sisters a battleground in a nationwide culture war over evolution, creationism and its variant, "Intelligent Design."
That's not the school board's fight, and it's not why Helphinstine was fired.
Helphinstine, a brand-new teacher, introduced materials from a highly dubious source that proclaims its creationist agenda proudly. Those materials strayed from science into discussions of the eugenics movement and Nazi Germany.
Such topics would be wonderful grist for a sociology or history class, but they are not appropriate for a biology class. Oregon law is clear: public schools in Oregon must teach evolution. Helphinstine was not doing that.
The school board had to fire Helphinstine because he deviated far from the curriculum he was contracted to teach. He did so in a most sensitive area subject and without bothering to mention the deviation to his supervisor, Principal Bob Macauley.
Superintendent Ted Thonstad overrode the desires of administrators to give the young teacher a second chance. But had they done so, it would have been very difficult to fire Helphinstine at a later time. The suprintendent believes there is a high probability that Helphinstine would do the same thing again.
Given the circumstances - and regardless of individual attitudes about faith and science - the school board had no viable choice but termination.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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