Superintendent Kathy Cox will

make a formal recommendation to the state Board of Education on Thursday

that it adopt a new biology curriculum for the entire state that not only

includes the word "evolution," but also restores lessons on

the scientific theory omitted from earlier versions of the new Georgia

Performance Standards.

Her presentation will mark

the symbolic end of the political firestorm she created nearly a month

ago when she casually referred to evolution as a "buzzword"

that would be better served if it were not to be found in state science

books.

After nearly a week of standing

her ground, the Peachtree City resident and former McIntosh High political

science teacher finally relented, convening a panel of biology teachers

to reformulate the curriculum.

The draft report from those

teacher teams is what the appointed state board will consider Thursday.

"I have reviewed the work

of the teacher teams on the biology curriculum, and have accepted their

recommendations," Cox said on Friday. "I truly appreciate that

these teachers came back early to address this important issue and ensure

that the proposed curriculum meets the needs of Georgia's schools,

teachers, and students."

Pending board approval, an

updated draft that includes both the word "evolution" and the

AAAS benchmarks will be placed online for additional public review and

comment, Cox said.

"We are confident that

the document not only meets national standards, but will deliver the world-class

curriculum that our Board has requested and that our students and teachers

deserve."

But quieting the furor over

"evolution" may be just the start of a series of wildfires Cox

will have to stomp out before the entire revised curriculum for grades

K-12 can be officially adopted in June.

Particularly, concerns about

both the math and history curriculums were being made known before the

evolution debate stole the thunder. And one of the loudest critics of

Cox's proposal to skim over studies of the Civil War in high school

American history classes is a former colleague at McIntosh High.

Joseph Jarrell, who teaches

American history at McIntosh and described his relationship with Cox as

friendly and professional, nonetheless has been the lightning rod of criticism

aimed at the proposed changes in his subject area, particularly in regards

to the Civil War.

"We've been friends

for seven years, and I contributed $200 to her campaign," said the

Coweta County resident recently. "For six years I was the Republican

Party chairman in Coweta and actively campaigned for her."

That just points up the difficulties

local teachers are having in reconciling such dramatic change coming from

one of their own, Jarrell suggested. [See Sandy Creek High School teacher

Tony Pattiz's letter on Page A7 in this issue.]

A conference call of McIntosh

teachers was arranged last fall with Cox when rumors of the changes in

the history curriculum first began leaking out.

"We went through them

point by point telling Kathy why this isn't going to work,"

he recalled.

The effort was futile, he said.

Since penning an essay on the

subject that ran in The Citizen as well as other papers around the state,

Jarrell has picked up support from all over, not just within Fayette County.

He's still hoping a compromise,

like the one with evolution, can be reached.

Meanwhile, changes proposed

to the math texts are nearly as dramatic, but not quite so criticized.

The changes in math would do

away with traditional class titles such as algebra I, algebra II or geometry

in favor of Foundations of Math, Math I, Math II and so on.

Many math teachers support

that move, because it blends various types of math into a more real-world

application.

The resulting high school math

curriculum, if the state Board of Education approves it in May, would

incorporate elements of different maths each year.

If approved, curriculum changes

would be phased in over several years. Changes to high school math would

begin in 2007-08, when teachers would be trained to use the new standards.

The next year, students would be tested according to the new standards.

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