The Federal Way School Board announced last Tuesday at its twice-monthly meeting that district teachers can resume showing "An Inconvenient Truth," a film of slideshow findings on the topic of climate change and global warming.

The decision ends a 14-day moratorium on presenting the film in Federal Way classrooms, installed by the Board on January 9.

Board Vice President David Larson aired the motion in request of a moratorium on showing the film until the board could determine the extent to which Federal Way teachers had used the documentary in the classroom, and whether teachers presented an opposing view to the science.

FWPS District policy 2311 requires teachers to present an opposing viewpoint on issues considered "controversial." The guidelines also require teachers to gain approval from their respective principals before showing films to students.

Superintendent Tom Murphy reported to the board that several teachers had shown all or portions of the Gore film in classrooms at three of the five Federal Way High Schools, including Todd Beamer, Decatur and Thomas Jefferson.

Murphy said that those instructors followed the policy manual by presenting opposing viewpoints and acknowledging bias in the film. However, they had not received permission from their principals before playing the documentary.

Producers of "An Inconvenient Truth" sent out an email to some teachers-a note that showed up in inboxes throughout the district-offering free copies of the film for classroom use. Gore's film has already become required course material for public school students in Sweden and Norway.

The film, nominated for Best Documentary at this year's Academy Awards, depicts former Vice President Al Gore presenting the science surrounding this global crisis and his plea with all nations, particularly the United States, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The notion presented in the documentary-that humans are the leading cause of the crisis and that the US contributes more to the problem than any other nation-has only added to the controversy.

And while the scientific evidence around global warming may be gaining national acceptance as fact-the vast majority of scientists concur with the findings presenting in "An Inconvenient Truth"-three members of the Federal Way School Board and supporters of the moratorium seem to question the credibility of the messenger.

The board, as well as many supporters of its decision, cited the film's undertones of politics packaged into the storyline of "An Inconvenient Truth."

After two weeks of fielding hundreds of emails-an estimated 700 in support of the film and a significantly smaller number in support of the temporary halt-the Federal Way School Board lifted the moratorium. Their decision, however, comes with the caveat that district teachers present opposing viewpoints to their students in accordance to FWPS policy.

The Federal Way News welcomes your letters in response to the topic of climate change and the school board's decision to require an opposing viewpoint to the facts presented in "An Inconvenient Truth." Send your letters to fwnews@robinsonnews.com