Opt-out policy debated
Biology: Vancouver board to meet over animal dissections

Squeamish biology students may soon be able to put down those scalpels and breathe easy:

The Vancouver Province
April 12, 2005
Elaine O'Connor
Education Reporter

The Vancouver School Board is considering a policy offering alternatives to animal dissection.
 
The Education and Student Services Committee will vote on a draft policy tomorrow. Staff recommend that trustees endorse it.
 
If the board endorses the policy at an upcoming meeting, Vancouver will be the second district in Canada with an opt-out policy for dissection in the classroom. Nova Scotia's South Shore District was first to do so in 1998.
 
B.C. Institute of Technology student and animal advocate Lesley Fox has been campaigning for the policy since January, in part because of her own memories of school dissections.
 
"Kids are often not comfortable asking for alternatives because they often perceive teachers are in favour of dissection," said the 29-year-old.
 
Many teachers give students the option of completing assignments or computer CD ROM dissection programs in lieu of an actual dissection. But Fox said an official policy is required to ensure equality across the board and inform students of their right of refusal.
 
Vancouver parent Mary Evans and her two children, Elizabeth and Evan, both vegetarians, want a policy that protects their right to opt out on ethical grounds.
 
"There is more humane way to learn what the school is trying to teach them," said Evans, who plans to join her kids in pushing for an opt-out policy at the committee meeting.
 
Students in the district usually dissect cow eyes in Science 8, frogs, worms, crayfish, starfish, grasshoppers, or rats in Biology 11 and fetal pigs in Biology 12.
 
Under the draft policy, all science teachers would be informed by the district superintendent of students' right to choose alternatives to animal dissection. Teachers would inform students and work with school principals to find alternatives: Books, videos, models, films or computer programs.
 
Fox said the U.S. National Anti-Vivisection Society will loan schools models or CD ROMS for two weeks free of charge, save return shipping.
 
Other districts are considering dissection-choice policies. In February, students in Kelowna started a petition for student choice. The B.C. Education Ministry does not mandate animal dissection, allowing schools to provide alternatives.