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Showing posts with label John Freshwater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Freshwater. Show all posts
This very controversial case of a highly acclaimed and
well-liked veteran Christian middle school teacher, John Freshwater, may soon be resolved. Eric Keller reported in the Kenyon Collegian that we may soon hear
the decision of the Ohio Supreme Court on this important religious
freedom-unjust termination case. I had been following this case (see also here, here, and here) for some time
and even attended a few of the school board hearings that were referred to in
the Keller article and it is with
great interest and concern that I anticipate the results.
Essentially the Freshwater
case pits two worldviews against each other, the secular-humanistic versus the traditional Judeo-Christian.
I believe that Intelligent Design or Creationism should be taught or considered
as a “theoretical” equal to evolution, which is not a proven explanation of
creation. Evolution is, however, a fundamental cornerstone of the
secular-humanist philosophy which dominates American education at all levels
today.
In Keller’s article in the Kenyon College newspaper, Ohio
Supreme Court to issue verdict soon in Freshwater case, he quotes some
professors who come from a secular-humanist perspective, which is not
surprising coming from a liberal institution.
Here are two disturbing quotes outlining and demonstrating the academic and
“scientific” bias toward Mr. Freshwater and his position:
“This (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) is a very conservative religious
community,” (Biology Professor Wade) Powell said. “A lot of people get caught
up in their majority status and fail to really think about what it must
feel like for other people to have folks in power dictating what is common
and acceptable in terms of religious practice.” Is the professor defending
the people of Mt. Vernon when they see the local school board discriminating
against a star teacher for living out his Christian faith? I don’t think so. Or
is Professor Powell defending those that have a secular-humanist perspective
who absolutely reject the worldview of a teacher who dares to live out his
faith and who practices it?And the
powers that be refuse to tolerate him and his differing beliefs? I believe that
Powell is communicating the later interpretation, with which I disagree. The “people
in power dictating” is actually the school board, which refuses to respect the
community standards in which they serve and who reject the first amendment of
our Constitution.
“Mr. Freshwater’s point of view is one that’s detrimental
to science education,” (Associate Professor of Biology Andrew) Kerkhoff said.
“Yet for 20 years, he was a very popular science educator within the public
school system.” That tells us what a difficult problem this is.” What this
“learned” man is saying is that the Judeo-Christian worldview has no place in
Academia, Science, and by implication no place in American society! Not only
was Mr. Freshwater popular, he was an effective and beloved teacher. I guess
that is dangerous and intolerable in today’s failed education system.
The secular humanistic National Center for Science Education reported the following news today regarding the much maligned and persecuted Christian science teacher in Ohio, John Freshwater.
“John Freshwater's legal challenge to the decision to terminate his employment as a middle school science teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio, failed on October 5, 2011, when a Knox County Common Pleas Court ruled against him. The Mount Vernon News (October 5, 2011) reported that the judge wrote, "there is clear and convincing evidence to support the Board of Education's termination of Freshwater's contract(s) for good and just cause," denied Freshwater's request for further hearings, and ordered him to pay the cost of the hearings. The Columbus Dispatch (October 5, 2011) added that Freshwater now has thirty days to appeal the decision to the Fifth Court of Appeals.
“The decision was the latest development in a long saga which began in 2008, when a local family accused Freshwater of engaging in inappropriate religious activity — including teaching creationism — and sued Freshwater and the district. The Mount Vernon City School Board then voted to begin proceedings to terminate his employment. After administrative hearings that proceeded sporadically over two years, the referee presiding over the hearings finally issued his recommendation that the board terminate his employment with the district, and the board voted to do so in January 2011. Freshwater challenged that decision in court on February 8, 2011, as NCSE previously reported.”
Hat tip to Bob Kellogg of OneNewsNow for reporting the following story online today. This is a story I have followed in the past. The Freshwater hearing drug out for years. Interestingly, a local Tea Party group will be hosting Mr. John Freshwater on Monday night in Mansfield, Ohio.
The Ohio Department of Education has agreed to remove a letter of admonishment from the professional record of a Christian public school teacher who was terminated.
Eighth-grade science teacher John Freshwater was suspended in 2008 and officially fired in 2010 because he allegedly injected religion into the classroom. The Mount Vernon Middle School teacher encouraged his students to think critically about scientific theories such as evolution.
Rita Dunaway is The Rutherford Institute attorney representing Freshwater. "It certainly looks to us that at the heart of this is Mr. Freshwater's faith -- and the fact that he has been open about his faith and not hidden it from anyone," explains the attorney.
Up until now, Dunaway says the state's Department of Education has been relentless in pursuing Freshwater even after his firing -- but that may be over.
"What their letter to me stated is that if they do determine further disciplinary action is warranted that they will be in touch and let us know," she offers. "So I'm anticipating that this will be the end of that admonishment on Mr. Freshwater's record."
Freshwater is appealing his termination in state court, asserting that his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated. He also had been accused of using an electrical laboratory instrument to burn the image of a cross on students' arms.
I have not been following the hearing of John Freshwater very closely of late. However I received the following update from Sam Stickle (mountvernon1805) of AccountabilityintheMedia.com.
"There was an interesting development this week regarding the John Freshwater employment hearing. Freshwater addressed the school board at its monthly meeting and gave the board an update on recent events related to the hearing.
""I thought the hearing was about to end sometime last month but the proceeding changed again because somebody sent an anonymous letter containing some photographs of some items from my classroom,"Freshwatersaid. "Last week another anonymous delivery was made that contained approximately 300 photographs of items that were in my room."
"I've uploaded a videoof Freshwater's comments to YouTube.
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"An article published by the Mount Vernon News provides some additional information regarding the missing evidence. (See the article "Anonymous source leads to 'black bag' find," by Samantha Scoles.)"
Not only is the United States Postal Service a model of inefficiency, ineffectiveness and bloated bureaucracy, now it apparently allows blatant violations of the rights of conservatives and Christians. Do the supervisors have too much time on their hands? Maybe they need to find a job? Read the following story, which I saw today www.PatriotUpdate.com, what do you think?
GROVE CITY, OH. A postal carrier who has served the United States Postal Service in Grove City, Ohio for 21 years recently sent an email to The Patriot Update claiming that his First Amendment rights are being denied. It all started when John (we’re protecting his real identity for now) displayed a couple of conservative bumper stickers from The Patriot Depot on his car. His supervisors demanded that he remove the stickers from his personal vehicle if he wanted to continue parking on the USPS employee lot.
In America in 2009 it is fashionable, tolerable, and very acceptable to mock, marginalize, discriminate against conservatives and Christians on any and every public and private venue. The hatred on the part of the Left is so vehement because they want to eradicate what they apparently perceive as the last barrier to implementing their full socialistic, Marxist, globalist agenda.
You see evidence of this in the John Freshwater case in Mount Vernon, Ohio. They not only want God out of the schools, but they want Christ-followers out, too. You also see a clear example of this in the opposition media's (ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, etc.) treatment or mistreatment of Sarah Palin ever since she set foot on the national stage. They want all godly, Christian, conservative and traditional, historical American values purged everywhere, from the public square to the kindergarten. The media, entertainment, education, even so-called mainline Churches (same-sex champion Episcopalian, Evangelical Lutheran, etc.) don't want anything to do with the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible or the conservative principles of the Founders.
Righting First Amendment Wrongs It has now been well over a year since the controversy over a teacher’s first amendment right to have his personal Bible on his classroom desk began. The middle school teacher was subsequently accused of marking the arm of one of his students in his science class. Later, fearing legal action, he was apparently set-up by the school and administration, which built a case to get rid of him.
I had not seen much about the case lately. I did find a brief article in the Columbus Dispatch a week ago that gave a brief update. The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch has been biased in its coverage of the story from the start. A week ago yesterday, this liberal yellow, or is it ‘red,’ journal, published a revealing paragraph in an article, summarizing the ‘facts’ of the case as follows:
"Following a school-district investigation last year, (John) Freshwater was accused of preaching in class, burning crosses on students' arms with a laboratory device and disobeying orders to remove a Bible and other religious items from his classroom."
That summary was sensationalized, biased and very subjective.
From my personal observation, having followed this story, having attended a few of the hearing sessions and having read accounts in newspapers and blogs, I think the summary should more accurately read something like this:
The school district hired a mom and pop investigative firm which limited their investigation to achieve a predetermined outcome, that which strengthened and supported the school board’s position. The investigator’s report was actually screened by the board’s attorney before it was finalized.
Years ago, Freshwater advocated that alternatives to the Theory of Evolution be included in the science curriculum. This upset some of his fellow teachers and administrators. For a brief period of time the State of Ohio did allow it to be included in the teaching curriculum. Freshwater, during a time when it was appropriate and ‘lawful’ to present alternatives to evolution within the curriculum, did so. When it became ‘unlawful’ or not part of accepted curriculum, he stopped teaching the alternatives. Now, he may have responded to student’s inquiries about faith-based matters and he may have answered those inquiries. But this is still America and no one has to check in his beliefs at the school door entrance.
One apparently disgruntled student, who had voluntarily agreed to be involved in the experiment, had been apparently touched and may have been ‘marked’ with a Tesla Coil. That device was being used by other teachers and by Mr. Freshwater for years without incident. His parents complained on their son's behalf complained to the school. Unsatisfied with the school's response, they later sued the school board.
The school principal did demand that Mr. Freshwater remove his personal Bible from his desk as well as ‘religious’ posters, etc. in his classroom. Freshwater complied, with the exception of his personal Bible, which had been at his side for 20 years. That was why he was eventually terminated and that is why he is challenging his termination, which he has a right to do under his teachers’ union contract.
The first amendment guarantee, a person's to freely express his faith, is what is at the core of this case. A man was unfairly fired because of his faith.
The Columbus Dispatch reporter postulated in his article that the hearings would possibly resume in mid-September.
You can review some of my previous articles regarding this case by clicking here.
This article includes an update on the John Freshwater Bible-on-the-Desk controversy as well as a video which outlines what is behind the attack on Christian teachers such as John Freshwater.
I have not written about John Freshwater very much lately. The alleged President has sidetracked me with all of his socialist shenanigans. So I now return, attempting to catch up on the John Freshwater story. John Freshwater is the middle school science teacher in sleepy little Mount Vernon, Ohio, who got in trouble by refusing to take his personal Bible off of his desk when told to do so by a superior. Subsequently the school administration disciplined him for allegedly marking a student’s arm with a Tesla coil during a science class demonstration. Also, he was accused of being too much of a Christian in his role as a public school teacher. Today our godless secular humanistic educational system frowns on anyone or anything that apparently even thinks a thought about God or, His Son, Jesus Christ. God forbid!
THE CONTRACT HEARING
Later this week (on Thursday and Friday) his contract hearing is scheduled to resume.
The Freshwater fiasco has been going on since the Spring of 2008. After over 20 years teaching in the Mount Vernon schools, he was suspended without pay since the end of the 2007-2008 school year for the issues named earlier. Last September Freshwater filed a civil lawsuit against the parents, who had accused him of marking their son with the Tesla coil. I believe that that lawsuit is moving through the courts.
THE NATIONAL MEDIA
Many newspapers, websites and blogs across Ohio and America reported that Freshwater filed a lawsuit against the Mount Vernon School District for $1 million on Monday, June 8, 2009. That lawsuit with its 16 counts can be read here. His lawsuit has definitely garnered attention.
Much of the leftist media, websites and blogs have nothing positive to say about Freshwater. They consider him to be a foolish Creationists/Intelligent Design adherent, who rejects evolutionary ‘science,’ which in reality is just an unproven theory itself. The education elite even balk at merely teaching the weaknesses of the unproven theory of evolution, so much for academic freedom. Can you spell (the movie) E-X-P-E-L-L-E-D?
Here is an example of what is being written in the leftist press. Steve Gobles wrote in the Mansfield (Ohio) News-Journal, “Basically, he is accused of undermining legitimate science -- evolution theory -- and pressing make-believe "science" based on Scripture . . . The lawsuit -- and its hefty $1 million asking price -- could have an impact that goes well beyond Mount Vernon and Ohio. Superintendents elsewhere have to contend with teachers who think Genesis is a science textbook, too, and so they will be watching closely." This is a natural evolution of taking God and the Bible out of our schools in the sixties. What we have is chaos and a broken and failed educational system.
Yesterday, David Hart blamed Freshwater in the Boiled Frog blog article for the failures on our present education system,
"While I expect that Freshwater's complaint in federal court will be dismissed, the damage has been done. Students have embraced mythology and superstition in contrast to real science. Our fifteen year-olds are in the bottom fourth of the 30 largest industrialized nations in math and science scores. "Teachers" like Freshwater bear some measure of responsibility for that failure. Moreover, Freshwater has created another group of homophobic bigots. Also disturbing is the idea that Freshwater was comfortable with outright lies about his conduct. It appears that he feels that he is permitted to lie in furtherance of Christianity. Apparently "false witness" can be applied selectively."
This is absolutely ludicrous. Freshwater's science class were the best of the three middle school science classes as far as state testing scores. Quite the opposite, Freshwater and other Christan teachers are actually trying to hold the tide of further regression and failure of our schools, not the cause of its failure. The number one cause of underperforming, unproductive schools is the expulsion of God, the Bible and Judeo-Christian values and principles from our schools!
Realistically, academic freedom is non-existent on most American campuses. It was thrown out in the 1960s with God and the Bible. You can mark a progressive decline of education in this nation since that point in history. It has reached a climax where here an outstanding, award-winning, teacher beloved by his students is given the ax on some freedom-of-faith robbing charges and some trumped up charges to purge him from the indoctrination center. He doesn’t fit the program or profile of what is a ‘good’ teacher in the eyes of the bureaucrats.
Last night (Monday) there is a School Board Meeting, which I was not able to attend. This is the first meeting following the filing of the lawsuit by Mr. Freshwater. It will be interesting to see if that lawsuit changes anything surrounding the on-going contract hearing and the relationship between Freshwater and the school board and administration. Here is a recent newspaper report, "Citizens square off with MV school board," of the public comments, mostly favorable to Mr. Freshwater, recorded at the Mount Vernon School Board Meeting last night. See also Accountablility in the Media's videos of some of the public hearing portion of the Mount Vernon School Board meeting.
Although I do not agree with many of the editorial comments and slant of Richard Hoppe in his Panda's Thumb blog, he does articulate a nice summary of the Freshwater fiasco in his article titled, "Freshwater brings suit against Board of Education." In that article he predicts, "The hearing is scheduled to resume on June 18, but in light of this new federal lawsuit and the refusal of the Board members to testify in the hearing, it’s unlikely that date will be kept."
Many people from both sides of this controversy are following this important case. I believe that the first amendment rights of John Freshwater, other teachers and other Americans are at stake her. Unfortunately, we are turning more and more from being a fundamentally Christian nation into a godless, secular socialistic state. Even the current occupier of the White House denies that America is a Christian nation, extolling our 'large' Muslim population instead, in his anti-American jaunts to the Europe and the Middle East.
However, we were undeniably established as a Judeo-Christian centric nation and the vast majority of Americans consider ourselves as still being Christian. It is the elite who have maneuvered into positions of power and control in Washington, in academia, in science, in entertainment, in the media, and in much of corporate America - all would rather be politically correct than honest. They along with the ACLU, People for the American Way and 'Americans' United for the Separation of Church and State are seeking to undermine the foundation upon which this nation was built and stands. They would rather revise America's history than accept something that opposes their skewed beliefs and values, which are all antithetical to those of our founding fathers.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Here is a video, which I found on the Values Voters News website. It describes what is really underlying the attack on John Freshwater and his Bible and Christianity here in America. John Freshwater is briefly mentioned in this video.
The June 2009 (American Family Association) AFA Journalcarried a article about the Mount Vernon City School Bible on the Desk controversy. This is the same school district that is trying to terminate the contract of one of its prized teachers, John Freshwater, for refusing to follow his supervisor’s order to remove his bible from his desk.
The following is the article as found in the current issue of AFA Journal:
Bible ban lifted for Ohio public school district
The Mount Vernon City Schools are again the center of controversy over Bibles. During the last school year, John Freswater, a 24-year veteran teacher, was suspended on other issues after a conflict arose when school officials found a Bible on his desk. This school year, the public school staffers, in the small community of Mount Vernon, Ohio, were ordered by administrators to remove all religious materials and displays from their rooms, including their Bibles.
In April, one middle school teacher, Lori Miller, was confronted about personal devotional materials on her desk and was directed to remove them. When she asked for support from her local and state union (affiliated with the National Education Association –NEA), she was told that she had no legal grounds for her grievance and it was justified via a legal opinion from the state level. Locally, the union insisted she comply and tried to block her from filing a grievance due to what her own union termed her violation of “separation of church and state.
“I was outraged when I learned that Lori, one of our members was experiencing such obvious religious harassment from her employers and was being roadblocked by local and state unions professed to be advocates for educators,” said Finn Laursen, executive director of Christian Educators Association International (CEAI). “We encouraged Lori to move forward with a grievance and had First Amendment attorneys waiting in the wings should litigation be needed.
On April 14, Lori Miller received a first level grievance hearing in which her right to have a Bible on her desk was affirmed “for the present time.”
On April 16, many students brought their Bibles to school as an exercise of their religious freedom and as a show of support for their former teacher, John Freshwater, who is till fighting to get his job back.
“The lesson here is clear. It is imperative that Christian educators, students, and parents remain willing to step forward to insist on the rights our forefathers guaranteed for future generations in the Frist Amendment of our Constitution,” said Laursen. www.ceai.org, 4/20/09
There definitely appears to be a real effort to silence the Christian voice in our school systems. Where once Christ and Christianity were welcomed and an integral part of the classroom and curriculum, they are now banned in preference to a godless hedonistic secular humanistic religiosity.
Righting First Amendment Wrongs . “Healing session discussed at Freshwater hearing,” was the headline that spread across the front page of the April 3rd edition of the Mount Vernon News newspaper, published Friday afternoon. The article covered the events of John Freshwater’s contract termination hearing that took place on Thursday. I made a special trip to pick up Friday’s edition of the newspaper.
Except for this local newspaper article, I could not find very much coverage of the day’s events in this long, drawn out ‘trial.’ I could not find any account in the Columbus Dispatch, which had been covering much of the hearing.
This article is based almost exclusively on the Mount Vernon News account. According to reporter Pamela Schehl there were three witnesses on Thursday. The first was a pastor who, the second is a middle school health teacher, and the third an 8th grade social studies teacher. STEPHEN ZIRKLE
Pastor Zirkle participated in several Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) meetings. There was an allegation that Freshwater overstepped his bounds as a monitor of this extracurricular activity. Zirkle is also subject of an alleged “healing session” was held following the March 18, 2008 FCA meeting at the Mount Vernon Middle School, which was one of the allegations against Mr. Freshwater. Zirkle did not recall John Freshwater’s having any leadership role in that meeting or whether he had prayed along with the students. However, upon cross-examination by the school board’s attorney, David Millstone, he did concede that it was possible that Freshwater initiated the prayer for Pastor Zirkle.
My comment would be that even if Freshwater did suggest that a prayer be made on behalf of Pastor Zirkle, or even if he did pray for him, should he not have a right to exercise his religious liberty? Are teachers expected to check their 'religious' convictions or beliefs at the school house door and assume a completely godless, heretical secular humanistic core of beliefs? I don’t think so.
WESLEY ELIFRZ
Elifriz was a middle school health teacher who observed that Freshwater had a Bible on his desk. Elifriz admitted that he also had ‘religious articles’ in his room, up until very recently, that is.
The Mt. Vernon News article records this comment made by Elifriz, “he observed students calling “I love science” when they passed Freshwater’s room, and got the impression they both liked and respected him (Freshwater).”
It certainly seemed that Freshwater enjoyed teaching and his students enjoyed him and the subject he taught. It seems like the students were learning. Because Freshwater did not conform to the secular humanistic worldview of life as is apparently expected of state or government employees, does this make him the “enemy”? That certainly appears to me to be the case.
ANDREW THOMPSON
Thompson, according the Mount Vernon News article, was an eighth-grade social studies teacher at the middle school. Thompson had previously served as an intervention specialist. In the role of an intervention specialist he had several opportunities to accompany students to Freshwater’s science class. He is also a former student of Freshwater’s and regularly attended FCA meetings while a student and then as a teacher.
Thompson described Freshwater as a “dynamic teacher who is passionate about what he does.” The Mount Vernon News article report, “Thompson said he never heard Freshwater speak about religion in class and never heard him discuss intelligent design or creationism in class. He said Freshwater’s teaching methods got students engaged and excited about science.”
Furthermore the newspaper noted, “Thompson also compared the scores of Freshwater’s science students with other science students’ test results. Freshwater’s students scored higher, he said, and that data does not support the allegations that Freshwater’s students needed to be retaught in high school.”
Thompson testified that he questioned the HR On-Call Report and even went to the School Board with his concerns that the report was “inaccurate, incomplete and one-sided.”
Rom what I have observed, read and heard one of the two investigators testify, the HR On-Call report does seem to have been subjective, biased, and meant to provide the fodder for and to facilitate the firing of Mr. Freshwater.
THE HEARING CONTINUES . . . The hearing was to have been held yesterday (Friday), however it had been cancelled on Thursday evening. Thursday, May 7th is the tentative date for the continuance of the hearing.
Do we still have the right to freely exercise our religion?
MOUNT VERNON, OHIO The following is a summary of the activities transpiring on Thursday and Friday, March 26 and 27 at the John Freshwater contract hearing. I previously posted an article about the Wednesday coverage, which I gleaned from newspaper reports on the Internet. I have been covering this saga since last spring; you can explore my previous articles.
I was able to attend Friday's session in person.
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DAY 16
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The following is a recap of Thursday hearing as obtained through online newspaper account on the MountVernonNews.com site and an article from the Columbus Dispatch site.
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BEN NIELSON
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Ben Nielson was a former student of John Freshwater last year. He was one of the major witnesses who were questioned on Thursday.
Reporter Pamela Schehl on MountVernonNews.com reported:
““That’s not Zach’s arm,” said Ben Nielson, former student of John Freshwater, as he testified late this afternoon in Freshwater’s contract termination hearing. Nielson said he had seen Zach Dennis’s arm the day after he was supposedly injured by Freshwater, and further stated the newspaper photo of the alleged injury did not match what he had seen in the flesh.
“Nielson said he had also volunteered for the Tesla coil experiment, and that’s why he and Dennis were discussing and comparing arms.”
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LYNDA WESTON
Ms. Lynda Weston, the former curriculum administrator for Mount Vernon schools, was one of the major witnesses on Thursday. She recently retired from her position.
According to Dean Narcisco's report on the Columbus Dispatch online:
“Lynda Weston told investigators hired by the district that she had fielded complaints about Freshwater for 11 years. Weston testified that she was told about incidents over that period but she could document complaints only since about 2002.
“She said Freshwater's charisma and popularity made him a danger to students.
“"If you have a great deal of influence with students, and if what you're teaching them is not recognized science, they are going to believe you."”
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DAY 17
I was able to attend the Friday, March 27 session. The morning session lasted around 3 hours, while the afternoon session took a short 30 minutes or less. Only one witness was interrogated during each session. As an interesting side note, there were approximately 30 people present in the hearing room and about six laptops.
The first witness was Julia Herlevi, one of the investigators and the afternoon witness was Jeff Cline, who was a friend of John Freshwater.
JULIA HERLEVI
Kelly Hamilton, John Freshwater’s attorney was very intense in his questioning of Julia Herlevi one of the two-person investigation team. She claimed to play second fiddle to her husband, Tom, who was the primary investigator. However, some of the people she had interviewed separately were key to this case. She and her husband interviewed John Freshwater initially. There was some indication that they were supposed to interview him a second time, but they never did.
Mrs. Herlevi stated that she did the proofing and editing of the investigation report, which was paid for and presented to the School Board. It was revealing that before the report had been finalized, it was given to the School Board’s attorney, David Millstone, for “clarification” prior to finalization. She thought that maybe one paragraph might have been changed as a result, again for “clarification.”
Mrs. Herlevi did not bring any of her notes from the investigation and was relying on her, what turned out, to be a faint memory of the facts of the investigation. Both attorneys had had copies and used portions of her notes which were previously subpoenaed. This did refresh her memory somewhat. It was revealed that neither she nor her husband used any type of audio recording equipment. Apparently that was their S.O.P.
RETEACHING MR. FRESHWATER’S STUDENTS
It was odd that the investigators interviewed High School social studies teachers to see if they had had to re-teach Mr. Freshwater’s students, because of what he taught them. There was a discussion about an allegation that Mr. Freshwater had made students memorize Bible verses. Mrs. Herlevi could not substantiate them. THE DENNIS FAMILY
Three key individuals, Zach Dennis and his parents, apparently had not yet been scheduled to testify at the hearing. The Dennis family representative, who has had a seat at the table alongside the school board superintendent and the school board’s attorney Mr. Millstone, and who records the notes on her laptop, indicated that she would try to find out if the Dennis family were available for the hearing next week.
The testimony this week revealed some conflicts in Dennis’s allegations.
During one telling point in the questioning of Mrs. Herlevi, Kelly Hamilton asked why she did not pursue finding out more details about where on Zach Dennis’s arm that he was allegedly “branded,” “burned,” or “marked.” She said that because both the Dennis and Mr. Freshwater corroborated the fact of that the marking occurred, it was unnecessary to pursue it any further. [The implication to me was that this portion of the investigation was not very thorough. It should have been because it was such a big portion of the allegations against Mr. Freshwater.] Student Ben Nielson, who testified the previous day, doubted that the Tesla coil alone could have made such a mark on Zach’s arm. Ben even questioned whether the photos provided by the Dennis family were even of Ben’s arm.
BIBLES IN THE SCHOOL
Attorney Hamilton concluded his questioning of Mrs. Herlevi with some discussion of the following excerpt from page 13 of the HR On-Call investigation report, from the summary of the investigators’ interview with Mr. Freshwater:
“During our interview on May 15, 2008 Mr. Freshwater . . . also said he has a Bible beside desk on his lab table that he checked out of the school library. When asked if the school Bible was there to make a statement, he said, “Yes.””
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Mr. Hamilton concluded that the second sentence above was a subjective opinion and did not capture the true essence of what Mr. Freshwater was saying about having the second Bible in the room. During the interview and based on the notes that Mrs. Herlevi had written recording the interview. The Bible was there to show that the Bible had been checked out to many children through the years and that the school had purchased it. It was okay to have the Bible in the school; the school even had them in its library. Hamilton indicated that the investigators summary was not only subjective, but inflammatory. JEFF CLINE
During the shortened afternoon session Jeff Cline testified. The questioning of Mr. Cline centered around the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and the role of Mr. Freshwater in that group. He was the facilitator, monitor and supervisor of that extracurricular activity. Mr. Cline indicated that Mr. Freshwater had no direct leadership role in the FCA activities, in which Cline took part.
Also, there was some discussion regarding the April 16 rally on the public square for Mr. Freshwater, which Cline indicated Freshwater had no part in planning. Mr. Cline testified that Mr. Freshwater had a paperback Bible which he carried with him. The Bible, which Mr. Freshwater had on his desk was one of several Bibles owned by Mr. Freshwater. That particular Bible was kept on his desk.
During Mrs. Herlevi’s testimony, she seemed to imply that if the Bible that Mr. Freshwater kept on his desk was so personal, why didn’t he carry that one.
CONCLUSION
The referee in this case will have a great amount of testimony to sort through. I believe that Freshwater's attorney pointed out some flaws in the Investigators' report. The selection of interviewees appeared to be selective and geared to a specific outcome favoring the School Board. The investigators could have been more thorough and more objective. They should have interviewed John Freshwater a second time, the should have interviewed more students and teachers, and they did not seem to be very thorough on the location and description of the alleged "burn" or mark on Zach Dennis's arm. At this point there seems no clear cut "winner" to me.
The hearing will continue next week on Thursday, April 2nd and Friday, April 3rd. The referee indicated that he would provide the attorneys and the Dennis’ attorney with the dates in May and June for which he would be available. This case started in October of 2008.
Righting First Amendment Wrongs . Now costing the Mount Vernon City School Board an Obamaspheric (for a small city) $250,000, so far, The contract termination hearing for John Freshwater restarted this morning at 9:00 AM. The Mount Vernon News website reported last week that the hearing, which had been scheduled to resume on Friday March 20th was rescheduled to resume today. It did.You can read my previous articles related to this hearing and this gross injustice. . The following is a recap of the John Freshwater 'trial' for those who are unaware of this situation or want to be brought up to date on the latest. The following summary comes from an entry on the MountVernonNews.com report authored today by Pamela Schehl:
“The school board last spring launched an investigation into allegations of professional misconduct by Freshwater, and the investigative report by an independent firm concluded that he caused physical harm to a student with a high frequency electrical generator during a science experiment, overstepped his bounds as a monitor of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, promoted particular religious beliefs in the classroom while denigrating others and was insubordinate in refusing to follow directives from school administrators.
“Freshwater, suspended without pay, requested a hearing to contest the board’s intent to terminate his teaching contract and maintains the board wants to fire him for simply keeping a personal Bible on his classroom desk.”
There is some question, in my mind at least, from what I know of the case, as to how unbiased the so-called “independent firm” had been in this case. After all, they were hired by the school board. There were quite a small number of students interviewed by the investigative team. To me the findings of the investigators seemed to be prejudiced against Mr. Freshwater.
The timing of the termination was also kind of questionable. Only after a parent of the child, who was alleged to have been “burned” or more likely “marked” by the Tesla coil, brought suit against the parties did Mr. Freshwater’s principal act in ordering him to remove what he felt were “religious” items from windows and Mr. Freshwater’s personal Bible from the top of his desk.
MORNING SESSION
Mount Vernon News reporter, Pamela Schehl indicated on her newspapers website that Mr. Jeff Maley, former Mount Vernon City Schools Superintended testified this morning. Part of the questioning had to do with the former superintendent’s knowledge of Freshwater’s proposal to teach evolution.
Dean Narcisco, Columbus Dispatch reporter, relayed the following account of Jeff Maley’s testimony in response to a hypothetical question, posed by Freshwater’s attorney, about evolution that might be brought up by a student in a science classroom, “(H)e’d expect a teacher to give a thoughtful but limited response and advise the student to instead to seek out parents for details.” Maley added, “I really believe that the religious beliefs of children should be impacted by their families." Narcisco also related that Maley “defended the teacher as gifted at "conveying information to children."
Perhaps stepping across the line from reporting to editorializing, Narcisco conjectures, “But Freshwater's inability to separate his personal beliefs from his classroom instruction prompted complaints and an eventual standoff with the district. The reporter may have presumed this from Maley’s statement, which he quotes, "I believe that John, Mr. Freshwater, has a strong difficulty resolving his philosophical difficulties with the scientific community. I respect that struggle, by the way. He is very fervent about the issue of evolution being incorrect."
Besides the biased editorializing mentioned above, Narcisco mistakenly refers to Freshwater as being a ninth grade science teacher. He actually was an eighth grade teacher.
Since when can a man not have and express his personal beliefs and values anywhere and anytime? What ever happened to freedom to express one’s faith as expressed in article one of the Constitution? Apparently the state has taken that right away. However, those rights do not emanate from the state, but a endowed by our Creator. Here lies a basic problem with our current flawed and failing education system.
AFTERNOON SESSION
Seventh grade math teacher and fellow teacher of Mr. Freshwater at the Mount Vernon Middle School, Lori Miller’s, testimony began in the afternoon today and will be completed tomorrow.
In hearing her speak at the public session of past School Board meeting, Mrs. Miller spoke glowingly about Freshwater as a teacher, a person and role model for her and other teachers. She said that he had a deep love and concern for each of his children. He made each child feel welcome and special.
According to a second report of the day’s hearing on MountVernonNews.com, LoriMiller “talked about religious items in her classroom, described her use of a Tesla coil when she taught science, and outlined the efforts to reinstate the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at the Middle School.”
I have been following this case for almost a year. You can read my previous posts here.
The termination hearing for Mount Vernon middle school science teacher John Freshwater resumed last Friday. Freshwater is the teacher accused of insubordination for refusing to take his personal bible off of his desk and subsequently for allegedly marking one of his students with a Tesla coil during a class science experiment.
Freshwater’s attorney,Kelly Hamilton had prepared several affidavits from several students. He was intending to have the parents of those students speak regarding those sworn statements. Mr. Freshwater preferred that the identities of those students not be made public. However, the school board’s attorney, David Millstone, objected to having the parents speak on behalf of their children. He argued that what they would say would be mere hearsay. The referee agreed and did not allow any of the parents to testify for the children.
The hearing was recessed Friday morning until Hamilton could get some of the students to leave school to testify personally. The hearing did take place Friday afternoon when three students did respond to attorneys questions.
The Mount Vernon News reported that the three students answered questions about their experiences in Mr. Freshwater's science class, speaking specifically to the use of a Tesla coil and whether religion was taught in the classroom.
Due to the unavailability of additional witnesses, the hearing was adjourned until March 20.
STUDENTS TESTIFY
Saturday’s (2/28/09) Mount Vernon News records the testimony of one of Mr. Freshwater’s 8th grade science students from the last school year. Corbin Heck, the student, said that he had taken part in the Tesla coil event. He recalled feeling a “brief tickle” when the coil touched is arm. He indicated that it did leave a slight mark on his arm afterwards. In addition Heck said that he “sort of laughed” when he saw the photos of the alleged marks left by the “burning” or “branding” of Zach Dennis, whose parent brought suit against the School Board and Mr. Freshwater.
Heck is quoted by the Mount Vernon newspaper reporter as saying, “This is more dramatic than what I saw on anybody else’s arm and I didn’t see it on Zach’s arm [at the time].” Furthermore, Heck revealed that Zach Dennis even laughed when the coil was applied to Zach’s arm.
This first hand account by a fellow student seems to strongly point to a serious exaggeration or embellishment or even some potentially falsified photographs on the part of Zach Dennis. Those photographs depicted something very much different than what young Heck saw. Something is very fishy.
COMMENT
The testimony of Corbin Heck Friday was very damning to the allegations made by Zach Dennis. Perhaps the additional testimonies of more students will shed greater light on what actually happened in Mr. Freshwater’s class surrounding the alleged misuse of the Tesla coil by Mr. Freshwater.
From what I can deduce from the 14 days of hearings this hearing was absolutely necessary to counteract what appears to be a deliberate railroading of Mr. Freshwater by the school and school board.
In this day when schools and education is such a great failure they education elite or hierarchy wants to drive excellent, people of faith and character out of the classroom as they successfully did with God and the Bible in the 1960s. Is there any wonder that violence, hatred, lack of discipline, increased drop out rates, poor rest results and lack of learning prevails in most schools today?
This case is a strong argument for funding of alternative to the hopeless government schools. Otherwise education will remain second-rate.
The following sources provide more of a first hand accounts of what went on in the hearing on Friday. Mr. Hoppe’s account is especially detailed and seems somewhat objective.
Comment made on February 23rd, 2009 on ChoosetheHero.com
“Freshwater is incompetent and dangerous to the children. A creationist science teacher who burns kids? You picked a real zero to back there. After he is fired, he and his supporters should take up a collection to pay the school for having wasted their time and money.”
Here is my response:
Actually, it is the educational system that deserves the accolades that you bestowed on Mr. Freshwater. The descriptions “Incompetent” “Dangerous” and “Radical Faith in the Flawed Unscientific Theory of Evolution” all aptly characterize our failed public education system.
Mr. Freshwater represents the antithesis of what currently marks education failed state. He cares for his students. He loves to teach. He is good at it. He gets positive results, and students learn.
How do we fix the public education system? For starters we
(1) Abolish the federal Department of Education (DOE).
(2) Take away the non-profit status of the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) for their student-ignoring, subversive leftist-driven political agenda and activism.
(3) Encourage and fund alternatives to public schools to make them more competitive and accountable to parents, the community and society.
Without doing these things mentioned above, our schools and the education system will remain broken and in a perpetual state of disrepair.
Therefore the only real solution may be a mass exodus of children from what amounts to the government indoctrination centers. Caring, Christian, and/or conservative have no choice but to pull their children out of the schools en masse. Next fall would not be too early to do so.
The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch newspaper had an interesting article last Sunday titled, “Plan calls for judging teacher on results.” It was about the Ohio Governor’s desire to reform education in his state. The article included and concluded its dissertation with comments about the difficulty in ridding the schools of poor, bad or ineffective teachers. They mentioned John Freshwater by name as the only example cited. Not a teacher who had sex with a student, not a teacher who worked as a prostitute on the side, or not a teacher convicted of some felony. No it was a dedicated Christian man and model teacher, who kept a personal Bible on his desk and who allegedly marked a students arm during a science experiment.
TAKING A SHOT AT JOHN FRESHWATER
The article also took another poke at embattled Mount Vernon middle school science teacher John Freshwater:
“School leaders have long complained that districts have little recourse against ineffective teachers who haven't broken laws or work rules. Also, a state law unrelated to tenure can make termination procedures expensive for districts .
“Take the case of John Freshwater, a Mount Vernon science teacher accused of burning a cross shape on a student's arm with a science instrument. Before the district can vote to fire him, it had to offer a hearing at its expense.
“Freshwater's hearing, which is to resume this week, has cost Mount Vernon schools about $200,000 so far."
So what was the paper saying? John Freshwater should not have a right to appeal the school board’s decision? Is it implying he should be paying the school districts costs?
As I have been following this story in the newspapers and other media sources both supportive and those in obvious opposition, I conclude that the Columbus Dispatch has an obvious bias against Mr. Freshwater. Originally he was confronted and disciplined for not removing his personal bible on his desk. After his refusal, other charges were conjured up including the “burning” or more appropriately the marking of the young man's arm.
Nothing was done about the marking until the boy’s parents filed a lawsuit against the school district and Mr. Freshwater several months following the alleged incident. That side of the story is woefully ignored or neglected. What is emphasized is Mr. Freshwater’s daring to bring his Christian faith into the secular humanistic classroom. The newspaper seems not to appreciate or tolerate Christianity, preferring the religion of Secular Humanism to be the only accepted creed of choice in the classroom and on the public square.
Truth be told, secular humanism actually is just as much a religion as Christianity. Although true Christian is more than a religion, it is a way of life. In fact, it was a way of life practiced since before the founding of this nation in 1776. Our Founding Fathers were not predominately Secular Humanists or Deists as the leftist revisionists continually and misleadingly claim. The Left chants that mantra over and over again, until, I guess, they hope everyone swallows the lie.
CAN PUBLIC EDUCATION BE IMPROVED?
The Dispatch article quotes Ohio Superintendent Deborah Delisle as saying that improving teacher quality is a “vital factor” in the education reforms of the governor’s budget plan. The article cites the need for teachers to be assessed or evaluated by the all-knowing standard or tool established by the state Politburo, the department of education. This, they think will make for better teachers.
On the surface the plan sounds swell. However, I believe that the local school board and the local parents provide the best oversight of the education of the teachers and children in their bailiwick. The more government and political, agenda-driven issue oriented non-teaching mega teacher unions are involved in education the less our children are educated.
Why are our schools failing? It is not lack of funding. It is not the majority of teachers, it is not the majority of teachers, it is not the lack of facilities. It is the secular humanistic creed that is so inculcated in the so-called education experts, leaders and trainers of the teachers. It is the inferior teaching material. The learning materials strive to revise American history taking morality, God and character out of the school curriculum. The secular humanistic creed is entrenched like a malignant cancer throughout our education system.
It is the pervasive and corrupting affect of the teachers unions, which are more interested in teaching (indoctrinating) little Johnny and Janie about alternative lifestyles, global warming, and the flawed and unscientific theory of evolution than giving them a sound foundation of reading, writing, arithmetic and character. Those are the things that mean real success at work and in society.
The federal government has no business meddling in the business of educating of our children. A step in the right direction would be the abashment of the Department of Education. It seems like the DOE is an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy that does nothing to improve the learning of little Johnny or Janie.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Who is responsible for the terrible state of our education today? It seems to me that whatever the job of the federal department of education is, it is not performing. What would happen if we eliminated the federal Department of Education? Would education of our children be better or worse? If it would be better, then why is it allowed to exist.
It certainly cannot be the amount of funding. We waste a bunch of money on “education.” Seems to me we are not getting our money’s worth.
Who is ultimately responsible for the mess we are in today? Is it the children? Is it the parent? Is it the teacher? Is it the school principal? Is it the school district? Is it the state department of education? Is it the federal department of education? I think the answer is all of the above.
ABANDONMENT
Our education system may just be beyond reformation. It needs to be abolished or caring parents need to find effective alternatives: Homeschooling, On-Line education, Private Schools, or Christian schools.
Isn't it ironic that little or no mention of the results that Mr. Freshwater produced is ever mentioned in any of the coverage of this story? He motivated his children to learn. His class tested the highest of the middle school science classes. He cared personally about the children. He was admired, respected, even envied by many of his peers for his love and devotion to teaching. What Freshwater has been put through is a terrible indictment against the system and is a major reason why it just may be time to abandon this woefully corrupted, godless and immoral system. It may be time to seriously consider pulling all students out of what has "evolved" into merely secular humanistic and socialistic indoctrination and dumbing-down centers . . . The results of the election of 2008 is proof of the pudding. America elected one who grossly deficient of any executive experience, one who was a political hack from the politically corrupt state of Illinois, and one with a socialist-Marxist philosophical bent. Although I grant that the choice was between bad and worse.
See www.ExodusMandate.org for more information as to how and why government education is a lost cause and how to escape that diseased corrupted system.
THE FRESHWATER HEARING RESCHEDULED
I took a trip to Mount Vernon on Friday to take in the on-going Freshwater termination hearing which had been originally set for Friday, February 20. But I eventually found out that it had been canceled. The Mount Vernon News reported that the hearing will resume on Thursday, February 26. It also reported that additional dates have been scheduled for March 20 and 25-27.
The costs continue to mount up to both parties as well as to the children and to the community being denied the services of a very good teacher. That is the real crime here, not the apparent false, lame accusations made against Mr. Freshwater.
This post is a summary of this week's contract hearing of John Freshwater. The YouTube video by MountVernon1805 gives a glimpse of the physical surroundings of where the case is being held and a peek at Mr. Freshwater and his attorney, Kelly Hamilton.
Cameras barred from Freshwater hearing
The John Freshwater contract hearing resumed this past Wednesday and continued through Friday of this week. See my previousarticles and comments regarding this case, including the first ten days of the hearing, which were held last October and restarted earlier this month. The hearing was expected to conclude this week. However, it was not completed and will resume on February 20th at 11:00 AM in Mount Vernon.
We had some frigid weather here in Ohio this past week, but the hearings resumed. One day the hearing was delayed because the Referee had a flat tire (Wednesday) and because Mr. Freshwater’s attorney was tied up in court (Thursday). I had a chance to attend part of the hearing on Friday after my eye doctor’s appointment. I will base my summary from newspaper and blog accounts of Wednesday and Thursday and the first part of Friday and then I will give a first hand account of what transpired late morning through the afternoon session on Friday. DAY 11
John Freshwater’s 15-year old daughter, Jordan, testified on Wednesday. She said, ““I know a lot of truth and I think it should be share,” when asked why she or other Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) students should have been asked by the school board appointed Investigator. Pamela Schehl, Mount Vernon News reporter, who covered the hearing, wrote “Jordan described her father as an ‘out-of-the-box’ person and teacher who likes adventures and makes things fun. She said he is involved in a lot of things in the community, and that former students often approach him in the community and thank him and say, “I love science” because of being in Freshwater’s class.”
Two teachers were called upon to testify. Dino D’Ettorre was asked about the Tesla coil. Schehl reported in part, “(D’Ettorre) said he would demonstrate it on his own arm as an example and talk with students about safety factors such as making sure the power level was on low. If student volunteers so desired, D’Ettorre said, he would touch the arc to their arms, never the device itself. He also said he told students it may or may not leave a mark on their skin, but any mark would not be permanent or stay long.” This testimony seems to contradict the claim by Zach Dennis, the student who was allegedly “branded” by Freshwater.
Eighth grade Special Ed and Reading teacher Barb Spitzer, according to Pam Schehl made the following assertion, “She testified that she at one time was in Freshwater’s class every day and never heard him discuss religion in class or read the Bible with students present.” In regard to Freshwater’s teaching style and approach to work Spitzer said that he “Was hands-on and student oriented,. . . highly ambitious and always willing to do more than what is required, and willing to modify assignments and lessons, if need be, to help students understand them.”
DAY 12
The entire day was devoted to testimony of Deborah Strouse, she was the monitor assigned by the school board superintendent to Mr. Freshwater during his last six weeks of the 2007-2008 school year. Mr. Freshwater’s attorney took a chance when he had her testify.
MountVernon1805 posted an excellent summary of the day 12 on the AccountabilityInTheMedia blog (see “Inside John Freshwater’s Classroom.”) The writer made this unusual, but telling statement, “Strouse’s testimony at Thursday’s hearing sounded like she was endorsing Freshwater for teacher-of-the-year.” Furthermore, the blog writer concluded, “Strouse said that as a teacher, she was jealous of Freshwater. He made every person feel important. He was able to connect a science concept to the things the students would bring up in class. Strouse said that students will work harder if they know the teacher believes in them.”
DAY 13
It was Friday, day 13, of this long, drawn-out hearing. I missed the morning session by just a few minutes. A deputy met me in the office outside of the hearing room and said that I had to wait until there was a break. The referee did not want the hearing interrupted. I had time to eat breakfast at the local Bob Evans Restaurant and to read several chapters of Chuck Norris’ book, Black Belt Patriotism, How to Reawaken America. Ironically, on page 94 of Norris’ book he wrote,
“If America’s founding fathers had no problem with the Bible being taught in taxpayer-supported schools, why do we? The Bible is the most influential book in Western civilization. It is the most important book undergirding American law and literature. To prohibit it from our nation’s classrooms is a blatant and biased withholding of proper public instruction.
“It is time for every parent, teacher, and school district to answer in the affirmative the question of Fisher Ames, who assisted in the creation of the First Amendment. . .: ‘Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book?'
“Our Founding Fathers would respond with a resounding yes.”
That is what much of this case is about. First, the right of a teacher to have his personal Bible on his desk, second to be able to display posters that might have an inspirational Bible verse on it, and the right or freedom to teach that evolution has weaknesses and there are alternate explanations to origin of life other than evolution. These explanations are just as scientific or just as logical as that deeply flawed theory of evolution.
A DOZEN WITNESSES . . . SO HELP ME GOD
When the referee administered the oath to each witness before his or her testimony, he said to the affect, "Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you will provide is true?" Something was missing . . . Each time I heard that oath being administered I wanted to shout, ". . . So help me God." That same something has been missing from our schools as well as our courtrooms for quite some time. That is truly shameful.
There were 12 witnesses who took the stand on Friday. Three of them were in the first session, which I did not attend. Ten others were questioned between 11:30 AM and 4:00 PM. I did hear these testimonies. Most of the witnesses were current teachers or counselors in the Mount Vernon City Middle School or High School.
For most of the witnesses Mr. Freshwater’s attorney had the same line of questioning. These included:
· Where you interviewed by the Investigator, HR on-call? · Are you aware of the school’s policy on religion? · Have you received any training in ‘religion in the classroom’ from the school? · How do you handle a question if it comes up in class regarding the meaning of Easter or Good Friday? · Have you seen Bibles on the desks of teachers at Mount Vernon City Schools? · Have you seen the George Bush – Colin Powell Poster with a scripture verse in any classroom? What other ‘religious’ articles have you observed? · Do you have to submit lesson plans? If so, what is the purpose of these plans? · Do you have any knowledge regarding the Tesla coil? · What teaching aids do you use in class? Are there any restrictions in their use?
My observations and conclusions include the fact that many of the teachers, who had first had knowledge of John Freshwater, who may have been supportive or at least objective about his situation, where not included in interviews by the Investigator, HR On-Call. Most of the teachers did not have or could not remember having training in ‘religion in the classroom’ and were not aware of specific school policies. There were and still are Bibles and ‘religious objects’ in the classrooms of some of the Mount Vernon City Schools. Lesson plans are used by teachers and administrators to see if teachers are staying on track. The Tesla coil has been used widely by science teachers in Mount Vernon City Schools as a basic teaching tool without any apparent problems or safety concerns. Little or no training in the proper use of the Tesla coil was received. Teachers are given wide flexibility as to what to teach, how to teach and what outside resources that they can use.
Overall, I did not observe any testimony that could be considered damaging to Mr. Freshwater’s case. In fact, most of the testimony supported Mr. Freshwater.
The John Freshwater contract hearing resumed on Tuesday and continued through Friday of this week. See my previous articles and comments regarding this case, including the first eight days of the hearing, which were held last October and restarted on Tuesday of this week.
Both the largely liberal Columbus Dispatch and the local Mount Vernon News newspapers have consistently had reporters present during the four days of hearings this week. Since I was not present I am relying on those accounts for much of the background information. One of the writers, Richard Hoppe, on the Panda’s Thumb weblog has also had a series of articles which have covered much of the hearings. He has also been present during the hearings.
This case is all about whether our government schools really want our children to learn or whether they are more interested in indoctrinating our children to a particularly politically correct, agenda-driven liberal worldview. Why else would they be so adamant in getting rid of an outstanding teacher, one who was loved by his students and one who in turn loved his students? Why is it seemingly illegal or “’disastrously unfair’ to science students” or “very damaging to learning process” or “damaging to science education” to challenge or even question the deeply flawed theory of evolution in the public classroom? The movie, Expelled, sheds light on the answer to that question.
The Darwin’s evolution theory is itself unscientific, yet it is touted to be the end-all and be-all. Why is the educational bureaucracy so afraid of any threat to evolution explanation for life exclusivity? Because that construct is foundational to the destructive, godless, secular humanistic, liberal philosophical worldview. The educational elite and the leftists, social engineers and the Marxists in America see the transformation of the thinking of our children as key to complete takeover of America. Evidence the results of the November election. We elected a thoroughly unprepared, Marxist-oriented, political pawn of the George Soros’ MoveOn.org mindset, who tricked the populace into thinking he would bring change and would offer hope for the future. All that he will bring will be the Jimmy Carter failed policies that will lead to the eventual destruction of America as we know it. DAY 9
According to the Mount Vernon News reporter Pamela Schehl, there were three witnesses on Thursday, Day 9 of the Freshwater contract hearing. All three witnesses testified regarding the handouts which Mr. Freshwater used in his science class, which they all felt denigrated the theory of evolution. All three witnesses supported the school board’s position. The school board’s attorney had 7th grade science teacher Bill Oxenford demonstrate the use of the Tesla coil for the hearing referee and those present. Oxenford had used this same devise as a teaching aid in the past, however, he stated he had not used it for at least 10 years. He felt that it was too dangerous.
On a very positive note, the Columbus Dispatcharticle covering Day 9 reported that Oxenford conceded that “Freshwater's class scored higher than the other science classes despite having the highest number of special needs students.” So how much of a deterrent or detriment to learning was the questioning of evolution by Mr. Freshwater? DAY 10
According to the Mount Vernon News’ Pamela Schehl, “Dr. Patricia Princehouse, lecturer in philosophy and evolutionary biology at Case Western Reserve University, was Friday’s sole witness.” Princehouse also provided an analysis of the handouts, which Mr. Freshwater used in his science classes. She she opined that the handout were “inappropriate.” In essence she stated that any reference or explanation of origins using Intelligent Design (ID) and Creationism would not be scientific. If those two explanations for the origin of life and natural order are not acceptable science, than neither is evolution.
The Dispatch reporter, Dean Narciso, pointed out that Princehouse testified when the Ohio Department of Education was deciding whether to permit public schools to teach "intelligent design" six years ago. Her bias and position was clear, she was an adamant support of evolution. She claimed that ID and Creationism were “religious” and not scientific explanation. Again, I contend that evolution, too, is a religious (secular-humanist man-is-god religion).
It seems to me that the school board has waged a costly battle against Freshwater. Engaging an expert witness such as Princehouse surely must cost a pretty penny.
The hearing is scheduled to continue next Wednesday through Friday.
