John Freshwater, Ohio Science Teacher, Still Fired For Preaching And Keeping Bible In Class

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A judge has upheld the firing of a central Ohio public school science teacher who was accused of preaching religious beliefs in class and of keeping a Bible on his desk.

Knox County Common Pleas Judge Otho Eyster said in his two-page ruling Wednesday that he found clear and convincing evidence that the Mount Vernon school board was right in dismissing John Freshwater early this year.

A request by the former Mount Vernon Middle School teacher for Eyster to conduct additional hearings "is not well taken," the judge wrote.

The school board in the community about 40 miles northeast of Columbus first tried to dismiss Freshwater in 2008 after investigators reported that he preached Christian beliefs in class when discussing topics such as evolution and homosexuality, and was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible from his classroom.

Freshwater appealed to an outside referee, a state hearing officer, utilizing a right of teachers facing firing in Ohio. The hearing officer recommended in January that Freshwater's contract be terminated, and the school board formally fired him within days.

Judge Eyster noted in his ruling that he reviewed the 6,344 pages of transcript and approximately 350 exhibits from the referee's hearing.

Freshwater also was accused of using a science tool to burn students' arms with the image of a cross, but that allegation was resolved and not a factor in his firing.

Freshwater said Thursday that he's considering his next step.

"At this time I am reviewing all of my options and speaking with (The) Rutherford Institute and my personal attorneys," he said in an email to The Associated Press.

The Rutherford Institute is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based civil liberties group which has been involved in the case. Attorney and institute president John Whitehead said Freshwater has 30 days to file an appeal and said his group is ready to move in that direction.

"The lower courts are very difficult to get by because they do uphold local school boards almost unanimously," Whitehead said. "We'll have a better chance in an appeals court which will have more distance away from the school board and the local community."

An attorney for the school board said she had no comment.

Comments

[C Woods]

01:33 AM on 11/05/2011

Why did it take three years for this to be settled? Similar cases have set precedents that Freshwater's actions were clearly unconstitutional.

And now it looks like he may attempt to appeal ---so perhaps it's not over yet.

In an earlier article, I read that the school board told Freshwater he could keep a Bible in his classroom to read during breaks. If he chose to go beyond that, then the presence of the Bible might have become an issue.

I taught school for years. One of the history teachers kept a Bible, a Koran, a Torah other religious texts on his desk. He read them on his own time in order to become more knowledgeable in order to teach about the history of various religions ---without proselytizing. No one complained because there was nothing to complain about. He stuck to historical information and not subjective beliefs. He, of course, listed the main beliefs of each religion, but without endorsing any of them. He prided himself on the fact that at the end of the unit on World Religions students still could not figure out what religion he adhered to himself.

[Parade Keegan]

10:53 PM on 10/10/2011

Thank goodness.

[elamatt]

06:02 PM on 10/10/2011

Please, go find a private church-affiliated school in which to spew your beliefs. Maybe you'll find the atmosphere more to your "liking". You don't belong in public schools, especially NOT in a science class. Signed: an educator (now retired) who believes in public education---and in science!

[Indygrl76]

05:25 PM on 10/10/2011

All I can say is thank god this idiot was fired...

[sixty-one]

11:32 PM on 10/09/2011

Public schools are not the places to preach your personal beliefs. He should go start his own cult somewhere....I think some cult leaders just got convicted and imprisoned somewhere. So....there are some openings.

[Thanks4Watching]

09:25 PM on 10/09/2011

Asking him to remove the Bible might have been a bit much, but the bottom line is, students go to school to learn, NOT to be preached to. If you want your student to be religious, send them to Church or Sunday School.

Public school teachers aren't paid to preach religion to students, especially when it comes to scientific topics such as evolution. Furthermore, his tirades on homosexuality could have been very offensive or upsetting to certain students.

And don't give me that 'freedom of religion' BS. If your boss tells you not to do something and you do it anyway, you get fired. It is no different for teachers than it is anywhere else. Furthermore, turning a public school classroom into a chapel where the teacher preaches to a large number of students that he sees every day - regardless of whether those students were even Christian to begin with - opens the school up to a lawsuit. Believe me, there is a massive number of precedents already in place where school districts have consistently lost lawsuits for bringing religion into the classroom.

You cannot have freedom of religion without freedom FROM religion. Public schools aren't churches. Why is this such a big issue?

[PirateJohn]

11:27 PM on 10/10/2011

>>Asking him to remove the Bible might have been a bit much

If that was all, I'd agree with you, but as with so many news stories, it's what we're not told that's important. Was he keeping it there and constantly drawing attention to it, for instance?

[Michelle Polcaro]

01:20 PM on 10/09/2011

Why would he choose to be a science teacher in a public school when he doesn't believe in the science that he is teaching? That's an easy one to answer. Public school teacher get paid much better than private school teacher. Of course, that still doesn't answer why he chose to be a science teacher. Why couldn't he pick something totally not controversial, like math? No preaching needed there.

[PirateJohn]

11:28 PM on 10/10/2011

Until you get to the part where 1+1+1=3.

[ToniQ]

03:15 AM on 10/09/2011

Where faith overrides non-imaginary law, imagination supersedes reality.

When the Christian breaks the law, what can he say about law?

[John Prewett]

03:27 AM on 10/08/2011

So teach kids they are just clever animals. But don't be surprised when more act like animals.

[Conuly]

02:50 PM on 10/08/2011

Better than teaching them that they're inherently sinful and are lucky they even have the chance to be good (which they can't be without supernatural assistance) and, btw, they were made out of dirt.

[Thanks4Watching]

09:26 PM on 10/09/2011

Sure, because telling them that they were born sinners because a talking snake told a rib-woman to eat something off of a magical tree will do so much more for their behavior.

[LSULinebacker64]

08:47 PM on 10/07/2011

Nothing's wrong with that teachers personal thoughts on the matter on the Bible. NO. But now if it comes to any preaching and to much activity with religous actions while in classes. YES, that is crossing the lines. Public schools and Private Religous schools are totally seperate & different from one another.

Before going to my Public High School my first 8 years were at a Catolic School.

[Howard Scott Pearlman 59]

05:23 PM on 10/07/2011

Some Intelligent Design - Cancer - disease - fear - panic - greed - envy hate etc etc etc.

And how do you explain all of those genetic mistakes and birth defects ?

What inteligent being would make a creature like man with eyes that can not see in the dark on a planet that spends half of it's time in the dark ?

If anything there is a lack of inteligent design !

[J R M]

04:53 PM on 10/07/2011

Right decision. His personal mission is and must remain independent of his job as a teacher. And if he can't keep them separate he needs to find another job that tolerates such behavior (probably working for a religious organization in some manner).

[ChristisLord1]

04:53 PM on 10/07/2011

I wish he was my science teacher lol

[been2there]

11:42 PM on 10/06/2011

If the Bible just sat there, uncommented on, I might have let that slide, but preaching in a class? NO, NO, NO.
And yes, I am a devout Christian. I try to live by the Golden Rule, and since I do not want a non-Christian preaching to my kids, I must respect the non-Christian parents' desire for me not to preach to their kids.
This does not, of course, prevent me from living my life in a way to share God's love as a city on the hill. It just means I do not preach while I am acting in my official capacity.

[Conuly]

10:46 PM on 10/07/2011

"I try to live by the Golden Rule, and since I do not want a non-Christ­ian preaching to my kids, I must respect the non-Christ­ian parents' desire for me not to preach to their kids."

Exactly. The Ethic of Reciprocity is found in religions all around the world, not just because it's compassionate but because it's good common sense. If everybody tries their best to be good and kind to other people, the whole of society benefits.

[morning697]

08:31 PM on 10/06/2011

how does his views on homosexuality fit into a science class? Was he actually teaching that God created the earth in six days when we all know he did it in one!

[Bob Metcalfe]

04:56 PM on 10/07/2011

If he was real rather than a myth howcome it took longer than a millisecond?

[morning697]

09:32 PM on 10/07/2011

Don't get me wrong bob, there is a God its just that I see him differently that how the Bible portrays him