Rio Rancho Public Schools' controversial Science Policy 401, which was approved by the school board in August, will come before the board again at its next meeting, slated for 6 p.m. on April 10.

Superintendent Dr. Sue Cleveland said after Thursday's board meeting that the board had promised to revisit the policy, which many say pushes the teaching of Creationism or Intelligent Design, in the spring.

It is possible the board will overturn the policy at that meeting. The policy, which states "when appropriate and consistent with New Mexico science content standards, benchmarks and performance standards, discussions about issues that are of interest to both science and individual religious and philosophical beliefs will acknowledge that reasonable people may disagree about the meaning and interpretation of data," has led many people, including the ACLU, to conclude that Creationism and Intelligent Design are being taught.

Not so, according to Cleveland; the policy merely allows time for sidebar discussion and only when it doesn't detract from the day's lesson and isn't casually brought up to take away from the curriculum.

At its Aug. 23 meeting, the board voted 3-2, after much discussion and hearing about two-dozen public comment speakers, to approve the policy.

The district was upheld Tuesday afternoon in its filing of a motion to dismiss a prohibited practice charge, filed by the Albuquerque Federation of Teachers, that claimed it had been negotiating in bad faith when it passed Science Policy 401 before finalizing a contract with teachers.

Andy Lotrich of AFT contended that passage of 401 had an impact on employees' conditions of employment, and RRPS attorney Charlotte Heatherington argued that there no such impact can be determined. The three-man Rio Rancho Labor Relations Board agreed with RRPS, granting the motion to dismiss.