The whole Dover episode highlights a problem in the structure of the American K-12 education system. It is run by amateurs.
The OP shows the Dover School Board getting excellent advice, not for the first time, from the science professionals most readily available to them: the teachers. They got good legal advice from the school board's lawyer about pushing their ID agenda. They ignored all this because they could afford to. The amateurs, not the professionals, were in charge.
Another symptom of the problem appears in the pattern one sees acted out over and over in American school discussions. The public gets concerned about the quality of education in schools for some reason. The amateurs on the school boards (who have been in charge the whole time) vow that things are going to change. They start 'cracking down' on the teachers (whose know-how they have been ignoring all along) and instituting make-work solutions that do nothing. Except for a new standardized test or two thrown into the mix, everything stays the same.
Recommended solution: put the professionals in charge. Standardize curricula and accreditation at the federal level. Put experienced educators and researchers to work in the Department of Education to oversee these tasks. Ongoing research will solicit ideas from students, parents and community members, of course. But get the drones out of the hair of the workers.
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Edited by Archer Opterix, : typo repair.
Edited by Archer Opterix, : added detail.
Archer
All species are transitional.
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