Proselytizing Ohio teacher John Freshwater
The saga of proselytizing teacher and accused child abuser John Freshwater from Mount Vernon Ohio will get another hearing by the Ohio State Supreme Court on Wednesday February 27th. He is appealing his termination from the Mount Vernon school district after many warnings, accusations of child abuse, and a lengthy investigation and school board hearing. Freshwater previously lost in the court of appeals and in Federal court.
The state’s high court will hear arguments Wednesday in the case of a Mt. Vernon teacher who claims his First Amendment rights to free speech and religion were violated when he was fired for teaching creationism and religious doctrine in his middle-school science class.
John Freshwater lost his job after parents of an eighth-grade student complained to the Mt. Vernon Board of Education that the teacher used an electrical demonstration device called a Tesla Coil to make a mark resembling a cross on the student’s arm.
Freshwater has asked the court to reverse decisions by the trial and appellate courts, which upheld his firing for violating school district bylaws that prohibit the presentation of classroom materials advocating the beliefs of any church or religion. The teacher argued that presenting creationist theories is consistent with district policies that encourage teachers to challenge their students’ critical thinking.
I’ve been writing about this guy since burned his first cross in a student in 2008.
