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CNN Live Saturday

14-Year-Old Takes on School Board

Aired June 22, 2002 - 12:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A 14-year-old biology student in Nevada says she learned more by not doing her assignments than she would have otherwise -- and apparently, so did the school board. James Hattori has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Are you surprised at all the attention?

LAURIE WOLFF, STUDENT: Yeah. A lot.

HATTORI (voice-over): 14-year-old Laurie Wolf earned celebrity extra credit when she challenged the Clark County school district's policy on classroom dissection.

WOLFF: They dissect a worm first and then after that they go to dissect a frog.

HATTORI: It was a lesson that seemed to contradict the values she had learned before.

WOLFF: We teach them to be kind to animals, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, let's cut up the frog and let's cut up the worm. And it's gross.

HATTORI: Though her science teacher now disputes it, Laurie says she was sent out of the room and given a bad assignment grade two years ago after she declined to dissect a worm. That's when she decided to fight.

LAURA SOMMERFELD, LAURIE'S MOTHER: I found out about it the day she brought home the petition that she had all her friends sign that they didn't want to have to dissect.

WOLFF: They make us dissect cats.

HATTORI: It was a battle that went all the way to the school board, covered in newspapers and on local TV. Laurie telling members the policy was insensitive and outdated.

AUGUSTIN ORCI, CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT: She came to the school board and stated her beliefs and the fact that other school districts in the country allowed this. She did her homework, and the board listened.

HATTORI: Some students have no problem and even enjoy dissections. High schools here also obtain cat corpses and use them in labs for science majors.

JULIE ALLENBECK, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: It shows you the anatomy and the muscles and everything about the human body that you need to learn.

MARK TONDRICK, TEACHER: Certain students are, you know, hands-on learners. The best way they can do that, obviously, is to get in here and get their hands a little dirty.

HATTORI: A number of large school districts and even major medical schools have eliminated animal dissections, favoring interactive computer software instead.

Finally, this April, Clark County went along, the board deciding labs are no longer mandatory and students' grades won't suffer if they sit out.

As for Laurie...

WOLFF: And so I know now that I can encourage other students, you know. If something is wrong in your district or something, you can change it, too.

HATTORI: She skipped dissection, but learned all about slicing red tape.

James Hattori, CNN, Las Vegas, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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