On August 2 the Board of Education voted unanimously to retain the original language in Hawaii's science standards related to evolution. The Board had received several hundred messages on the subject, and heard from dozens of speakers supporting evolution education at the meeting. A committee of the Board had opened the door to the introduction of creationism into science classes in Hawaii. On July 26, 2001the Regular Education Committee made changes in proposed performance standards for science related to evolution. The changes were put forward by board member Denise Matsumoto, who was quoted in the Honolulu Advertiser as saying, "Evolution hasn’t been validated by any concrete evidence. I had a concern about it being taught as a fact and the only way the world began." She was also quoted as supporting teaching creationism as an alternate theory. Language was added to the standards to have students identify "multiple theories of origin" and elsewhere to replace the phrase "biological evolution" with "the basic idea of the multiple theories of origin". For Honolulu Advertiser account of the committee meeting, go to http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Jul/28/ln/ln06a.html For Honolulu Star-Bulletin account of the Board meeting, go to http://starbulletin.com/2001/08/03/news/story1.html
