Ohio Teacher Who Branded Student Claims Persectuion

Mount Vernon, OH middle school teacher John Freshwater says his religious beliefs are under attack after he was fired from his position for refusing to remove a Bible from his desk.

The reality:

“A Mount Vernon teacher undermined science instruction in the public school district by discrediting evolution in his classroom and focusing on creationism and intelligent design, an investigation has found.


Eighth-graders who were taught by John Freshwater frequently had to be re-taught in high school what they were supposed to have learned in Freshwater's class, according to outside investigators hired by the district.


For 11 years, other teachers in the school district and people in the community complained about Freshwater preaching his Christian beliefs in class and slamming scientific theories, a school administrator told investigators.” 1


In April of last year, the school board sent Freshwater a letter in which he was told that he could keep the Bible in his desk and read it on his lunch hour, but it cannot be sitting on his desk during instruction time. 2 Freshwater responded that this violated his civil rights. 3


This violation has set off a firestorm in the Christian community, both in Mount Vernon and across the country, with hundreds of people demonstrating outside the school board offices and filing online petitions on his behalf. 4

But Mr. Freshwater apparently believes it is within his civil rights to brand crosses onto his students’ arms:

"The parents of a Mount Vernon boy who says his science teacher branded a cross on his arm have sued the teacher and the school board, saying the teacher violated the boy's civil rights."

"The suit alleges that Freshwater burned a cross on the student's arm on Dec. 6, using an electric device that puts out a high voltage. The device is used in science classrooms to teach the characteristics of different gases. The boy's parents complained to school administrators, who say they told Freshwater not to do it again." 5

“Freshwater told investigators the marks were X's, not crosses. But all of the students interviewed in the investigation reported being branded with crosses. The investigation report includes a photo of one student's arm with a long vertical line and a short horizontal line running through it.” 6 (Because it’s okay to brand a child with X’s, just not crosses....)


Here is a picture of the X:




















Methinks Mr. Freshwater bears false witness.

The bottom line is, the school board should have taken action long before now, and not for having a Bible on the desk. When students actually require supplemental education in order to complete graduation because of a teacher's failure to teach the curriculum, that’s a problem! It should not have been allowed to go on for 11 years. And he should have been fired, arrested, and stripped of his teaching license the day he decided to brand children like cattle.

What say you?