Some parents and teachers are calling on a school board chairman to resign for comments he made about a technique that may help eliminate birth defects, which he said could possibly reduce the number of special education children. Brownson Spencer said Wednesday he would not resign. At the Feb. 4 Mill River Union board meeting, Spencer mentioned reports about the controversial technique, which allows the genetic material of three people to fertilize an egg, instead of two. ‘‘It has pretty awesome implications for education,” he said, “because we could probably greatly reduce the number of special ed kids with this brand-new biological technique.’’ He wrote an apology, saying if anyone thought he was being insensitive, they ‘‘misunderstood the import of this genetic discovery.’’ (AP)
North Clarendon, Vt.