March 4, 2005
Cobb County legal case continues
On February 25 Federal District Court Judge Clarence Cooper ordered the Cobb County school district to remove evolution disclaimer stickers from 34,000 textbooks at the end of this school year. The Cobb school board is appealing Judge Cooper's January 13 ruling that the stickers are unconstitutional, and had asked that he stay his ruling until the appeals court has heard the case. This the judge refused to do, but he did agree to the request of the district's high school science supervisor that the stickers be removed over the summer rather than immediately because of the amount of time and staff needed to process the large number of books involved.
On March 1 attorneys for the school district and the parents who sued over the stickers met for a mediation session ordered by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to try to settle the case. According to a story in the March 2 Marietta Daily Journal, "both sides were closed-lipped about whether any resolution to the matter was reached through Tuesday's mediation. Gerry Weber, legal director for the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he could not discuss anything that happened at the mediation other than to confirm that the meeting took place." According to the newspaper, no further mediation meetings are scheduled. Previous newspaper accounts have quoted some of those involved in the case as being very skeptical about any successful mediation at this point