Michael Baksa wasn't in favor of an intelligent design policy in October 2004 when the Dover Area School Board approved it, and he still isn't.

The second-highest administrator in Dover Area School District testified in U.S. Middle District Court yesterday that he felt the board should have approved a version of the biology curriculum that was supported by the high school's science teachers instead of the current policy that requires mentioning intelligent design.

Baksa, whose job is to handle curriculum, was hired in 2002. He said the school board put the policy in place despite the pleas of science teachers who questioned the science behind intelligent design.

Baksa testified that he was taking cues from board members and the district's superintendent -- his boss, Richard Nilsen -- when he researched intelligent design and attended a seminar on creationism at an area Christian college.

Baksa testified that Nilsen sent him to a conference on creationism at Messiah College in Grantham, Cumberland County, in March 2003.

It was the only conference Nilsen ever told him to attend; his boss never said why he wanted him to go, Baksa testified.

Baksa testified that he was also never told why his boss wanted him to survey local parochial schools to find out what biology books they use.

"Dr. Nilsen did not explain why," Baksa testified.

'50/50': Baksa's direct testimony began earlier in the defense's case and has been scattered out across several

Advertisement
days when the defense was able to make time to call him.

When attorneys for the parents began cross-examination of the administrator yesterday, Pepper Hamilton law firm attorney Eric Rothschild pointed out that the conference took place the same day as a board and administration retreat that Baksa also attended.

Nilsen's notes from the retreat listed board member Alan Bonsell as speaking about creationism.

Baksa testified that, after the board retreat, he warned head science teacher Bertha Spahr that a board member wanted to teach evolution "50/50" with another theory.

Baksa later named the board member as Bonsell, but he said he didn't remember Bonsell naming
the theory he wanted to have taught alongside evolution.

Baksa said he also met with Bonsell after the retreat to talk about the board member's concerns about evolution, such as species evolving into other species.

The two also met with science teachers, who assured Bonsell that species to species evolution and the origins of life were not taught.

The outcome of the meeting was successful, Baksa testified.

But to address Bonsell's concerns, Baksa began drafting a curriculum change that said students should know about other theories of origin, "including but not limited to creationism," Baksa testified.

He said he doesn't remember creating the document, but he is "probably the only one who could have."

Remembers "creationism": Bonsell wasn't the only board member who took issue with the teaching of evolution.

Baksa testified that on June 4, 2004, he met with then-board member William Buckingham, who composed a list of several items he opposed in the high school's biology book, "Biology," by Ken Miller and Joe Levine.

Baksa testified that he remembered Buckingham using the word "creationism" in school board meetings that month.

The word "creationism" has been an issue of contention during the trial because Nilsen and some school board members testified they couldn't remember board members using the word.

Nilsen also testified that the administration did not support the policy that was put in place, preferring instead a version supported by the high school science department.

But Baksa remembered many of the controversial comments that his boss and some board members who testified said they could not.

Although he could not remember the timing of all of the comments, Baksa testified that he remembered Buckingham referencing the crucifixion of Christ, saying that the country was founded on Christianity and students should be taught as such, saying that the Miller and Levine book was "laced with Darwinism" and saying "liberals in black robes" are stripping Christians of their rights.

Baksa's testimony was expected to continue this morning.

'I could have been coughing': Board member Alan Bonsell's testimony also continued yesterday morning, after Judge John E. Jones III spoke to him on Monday about inconsistencies in his testimony.

Bonsell's attorney, Thomas More Law Center's Patrick Gillen, gave Bonsell a chance to explain why there were conflicting accounts in two depositions taken in preparation for the case and his testimony on Monday.

"Leading up to this ... we didn't think we were going to be sued," he said. "I was extremely nervous to say the least."

Bonsell said he had never been deposed before and he "tried to answer as truthfully" as he could.

Parents' attorneys countered that they gave Bonsell a chance to correct his first deposition before they started his second deposition, but he said he didn't think anything needed to be changed.

Bonsell's fellow board member, current board president Sheila Harkins, took the stand after Bonsell.

Harkins had frequent raucous coughing fits during her testimony.

"I don't have a cold, you won't catch anything," she told the judge, who looked on curiously. "It's allergies."

She sucked on candy, closing her eyes and propping her head up with her hand during much of her testimony.

Harkins testified that she researched intelligent design by "Googling" it, and she considered it a valid scientific theory.

She voted in favor of the policy because, when graduates are walking across the stage, they should know "not just what to think, but how to think."

Giving an alternative theory to evolution fosters that, she said.

She testified that some of the statements other witnesses attributed to Buckingham were not made during discussions about intelligent design, but months before in another debate.

Harkins testified that she remembered Buckingham making a comment about "somebody" dying on a cross "2,000 years ago" in a 2002 meeting. But she said it is possible he could have said it in June 2004 as well.

"I could have been coughing," she said.

-- Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5434 or ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.