May 10, 2001

Evolution an Issue in Teacher's Firing

Colin Dovichin, a first-year teacher at Lancaster High School, claims he is losing his job because he would not give in to pressure from parents to teach creationism alongside evolution in his science classroom. He also claims that he was attacked as "an atheist".

The Lancaster school board voted 4-1 on May 8 not to renew Dovichin's contract. School administrators deny that the evolution dispute had any place in their decision not to renew, or that they ever told him to teach creationism. Nearly half of the school's 107 students rallied in support of Dovichin on Wednesday.