Staff Writer

bwilliams@thealmanac.net

School board members in Mt. Lebanon have approved a series of student textbooks for the 2009-2010 school year.

There was no debate, nor questions asked about any of the selections approved May 18.

State law requires the school board to approve all student textbooks.

Board members Mark Hart and James Fraasch asked about the following text: "Dire predictions: Understanding Global Warming--The Illustrated Guide to the Findings of the IPCC" by Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kump. The IPCC is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Both said they did not object to the book, focusing their argument on whether an additional text reflecting the other side of the debate be added.

In1999, Mann, a University of Virginia Climatology Professor, wrote a paper which featured a 1,000-year study of temperature change. The scientific community dubbed it a "hockey stick graph," because Mann's diagram was flat, and suddenly showed a sharp increase in temperatures from 1900 to 2000. Vice-President Al Gore referenced Mann's work in his movie "An Inconvenient Truth," which is shown at the school.

Since 1999, however, other scientists have disputed Mann's findings on global warming. Mann has since focused his global warming predictions on the impact of carbon in the atmosphere.

Superintendent John Allison, who is leaving the district for Kansas before the 2009-2010 school year, said this text is one of three used as supplemental material in the class. The others are "Keeping Things Whole" by Chrispin Tickell, and "Environmental Science" by Kaufmann & Cleveland, Allison said.

"The students source different points of view, including some from the Internet, with a goal of formulating their own concepts," Allison said. "These books are not the entire curriculum."

The district utilizes a book selection process, Allison said. Books are requested by teachers. The submissions are evaluated by a review committee made up of teachers. The recommendations are then submitted to the administration, which reviews them and passes the list on to the school board for approval. Once the list is presented to the board, it is open to public inspection for 30 days before final approval by the board.

Fraasch said he is confident the class is balanced on both sides of the global warming issue. Hart was absent May 18.