John Freshwater Finally Fired

He branded his students with a cross and his only consequence was being fired? That’s assault, even child abuse.

Honestly, those school administrators should be at the least put on some sort of probation for allowing this to continue, possibly even more actions. $900,000 is a ridiculously large amount of money from the local taxpayers spent to slow and lessen the punishment of a child-abusing constitution violator.

Where were the parents at? If this happened at my school when I was that age my (Christian) mother would have freaked out about this guys actions. She would have made sure he was gone quick!

He may be out of the teaching position, but I get the feeling this lunatic will try something again…or some AFA-like place will attempt to use him to get what they want.

If he’d branded *my* child, being fired would have been the least of his worries. I say he got off easy.

@JD – Don’t forget that in many areas public school teachers are union employees. This makes discipline and firings all the more difficult.

Yeah, something here does not make sense. Forget firing this douche-bag – why was he not arrested and charged with child abuse?

I read that it was not a brand, but more of a burn like a sunburn. Still serious. A separate civil suit settlement of $450,000 was paid to the family, covered by insurance. Guess who’s insurance rates are going up in the future?

thanks for the link ACN

WHEREAS the Board adopts the Referee’s Report, finding the following conduct as “good and just cause” under Revised Code Section 3319.16 for the termination of Mr. Freshwater’s teaching contract(s):

§ Mr. Freshwater injected his personal religious beliefs into his plan and pattern of instructing his students. In doing so, he exceeded the bounds of all the pertinent Bylaws/Policies of the Mount Vernon City School District;

§ In 2003, Mr. Freshwater unsuccessfully petitioned the Board to allow him “to critically examine the evidence both for and against evolution.” Despite the Board’s rejection of this proposal, Mr. Freshwater undertook the instruction of his eighth grade science students, as if the suggested policy had been implemented;

§ On more than one occasion, Mr. Freshwater was reminded by his superiors that he must abide by the Bylaws & Policies, as they related to religion in the curriculum;

§ Mr. Freshwater’s “evidence” against evolution was based, in large part, upon the Christian religious principals of Creationism and Intelligent Design;

§ Mr. Freshwater’s use of “against evolution” materials ran afoul of the District’s Bylaws/Policies;

§ Mr. Freshwater used unauthorized handouts to challenge evolution, based in large part upon the Christian religious principals of Creationism and Intelligent Design;

§ Mr. Freshwater used motion pictures (Expelled; No Intelligence Allowed) and videos (the Watchmaker) to challenge evolution, which were based in large part upon the Christian religious principals of Creationism and Intelligent Design;

§ Mr. Freshwater taught his students to use the code word “here” when teaching students to question printed materials from science textbooks, which were approved and provided by the Board;

§ Mr. Freshwater taught his eighth grade students that homosexuality is a sin, so anyone who chooses to be a homosexual is a sinner. Mr. Freshwater also taught his students that science and scientists can be wrong when they declare that there is a genetic predisposition to homosexuality;

§ Mr. Freshwater not only injected his subjective, biased, Christian religion based, non-scientific opinion into the instruction of eighth grade science students but also gave those students reason to doubt the accuracy and or veracity of scientists, science textbooks, and/or science in general;

· Mr. Freshwater acted in defiance of direct instructions and orders of the administrators (Insubordination);

§ Mr. Freshwater was directed to remove or discontinue the display of all religious articles in his classroom, including all posters of a religious nature, and whereas, Mr. Freshwater has failed to comply with that directive and, further, has brought additional religious articles into his classroom, in a direct act of insubordination

dispite all this, when the school board roll call was done in deciding if this man would be fired, Mr. Steve Thompson voted nay. How could anyone oppose firing this teacher? I am now very concerned about Steve Thompson being on the school board.

That Freshwater used a symbol of his faith is irrelevant to some extent; as a parent, I’d be ticked off if he burned the logo of his favorite sports team onto my child’s arm.

Go to Pandas Thumb and read the blow by blow. The question of why wasn’t he charged with assualt is explained (a settlement was reached with the family). Perfect example of our legal system at work.

He was only fired? How about prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for child abuse? If branding a child is not a crime, then nothing is.

HOW CAN YOU SETTLE ON A CRIMINAL COMPLAINT?

Simple, criminal charges were never filed. While I agree he was out of line with the whole “branding” thing, most of you act like he cut the kids arm off. If they had pressed charges and considering how minor the burn was, he wouldn’t have spent a day in jail. They, the BOE, chose to go after something they really could fire him for, breach of contract.