On July 30, 2001 the North Branch school district board voted 4-3 to adopt an environmental science textbook which had been opposed by two board members because it doesn't mention creationism as an explanation of life and it doesn't refer to evolution as only a "theory". Review and debate about evolution began in June when the board's decision on possible texts was delayed because of objections to evolution. If the board hadn't chosen a book at their last meeting, the school year would have begun without an approved text.
