Freshwater tainted in Mount Vernon

It started at least 11 years ago but came to a head last April. John Freshwater has been a science teacher at Mount Vernon Middle School in Mount Vernon, Ohio for 21 years. Actually, he's been kind of a science teacher. He's also been teaching his fundamentalist version of Christianity, and knocking the theory of evolution.

In his classroom, Freshwater, led by Jesus, posted a copy of the Ten Commandments on his door, as well as other religious posters on his walls, and placed copies of the Bible around his room. On his desk he kept a well-worn copy of his "personal" Bible.

The Mount Vernon School District told Freshwater to remove the Ten Commandments poster and the other posters and place his Bible out of sight. He took down the posters, but kept his personal Bible on his desk.

Dave Daubenmire, a Christian Right extremist who heads up an organization called "Minutemen United," defended Freshwater, claiming "This is not a religion issue; this is a free-speech issue. He didn't take the Bible to read to anybody."

Freshwater, in a news release, said "Thousands of citizens in this community have built their lives on deeply held religious convictions, and it is for them I stand today."

He also stated that "That Bible is me. I want my Bible on my desk because that is me."


Ah, but there's much more to this than Freshwater's Bible on his desk. Although he claims to be a science teacher, he is, in fact, more of fundamentalist preacher. Even Daubenmire admitted that Freshwater "has taught his students about the 'holes in evolution' and intelligent design."

Freshwater also provided Creationism pamphlets for his students.

God, Freshwater insists, is responsible for creation. "In one class, Freshwater used Lego pieces to describe the beginning of the world. He dumped the pieces, then asked students if the Legos could assemble by themselves."

(That would seem to indicate that in spite of his Bible on his desk, Freshwater is Biblically illiterate. In the book of Genesis, God is said to have created from nothing: "When God began to create heaven and earth--the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water--God said, 'Let there be light"; and there was light. ... ")


The Freshwater taint spread and finally the school district decided to hire an independent firm to investigate the allegations against him. Superintendent Steve Short issued a statement on April 22, which said "The allegations against Mr. Freshwater are very serious. This is not about his personal Bible on his desktop. It is about the totality of his conduct."

Short also said that Freshwater is alleged to advance religion in his classroom and teach his personal beliefs about the Bible and ignores the approved curriculum.

A family suing the school district because Freshwater burned their child, said in a fax from their attorney that, "We are religious people, but we were offended when Mr. Freshwater burned a cross onto the arm of our child. This was done in science class in December 2007, where an electric shock machine was used to burn our child. The burn was severe enough that our child awoke that night with severe pain, and the cross remained there for several weeks. ... We have tried to keep this a private matter and hesitate to tell the whole story to the media for fear that we will be retaliated against."

Of course they will. They're up against fundamentalist Christians who have god on their side!

Other allegations against Freshwater are that he conducted prayers and participated in a healing session while a monitor for a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This is against school policy and federal law--teachers monitoring these kinds of groups may not participate or offer prayers!

Perhaps the most serious complain against Freshwater was that he had used "an electrostatic device to burn crosses onto students' arms."


The firm of HR on Call, hired by the school district to investigate the allegations against Freshwater, worked for all of May and most of June and have now issued their findings, part of which follows:

1. Mr. Freshwater did burn a cross onto the complaining family's child's arm using an electrostatic device not designed for that purpose. While there did not appear to be any intent by Mr. Freshwater to cause injury to any student, he was not using the device for its intended purpose. Contrary to Mr. Freshwater's statement he simply made an "X" not a "cross," all of the students described the marking as a "cross" and the pictures provided depict a "cross."

(Note that Mr. Freshwater lied!)

2. The Ten Commandments together with other posters of a religious nature were posted in Mr. Freshwater's classroom. Most were removed after Mr. White's letter of April 14, 2008, but at least one poster remained which Mr. Freshwater was again instructed to remove on April 16, 2008, but did not do so.

3. Several Bibles were kept in Mr. Freshwater's classroom including his personal Bible on his desk and one he checked out of the library placed on the lab table near his desk. Other Bibles that had been maintained in the room were removed by the time the investigators viewed Mr. Freshwater's room.

4. Mr. Freshwater engaged in teaching of a religious nature, teaching creationism and related theories and calling evolution into question. He had other materials in his classroom that could be used for that purpose.

5. Mr. Freshwater engaged in prayer during FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) meetings in violation of the district's legal obligations for monitoring such organizations.

6. Mr. Freshwater participated and possibly led a prayer during an FCA meeting that concerned a guest speaker's health. There is no conclusion as to whether such a prayer was a 'healing prayer.'

7. There is no evidence Mr. Freshwater made statements about FCA members "being the saved ones" nor was their any corroboration to the allegation Mr. Freshwater gave FCA members Bibles for them to distribute. He did have two boxed of Bibles in the back of his room.

8. Mr. Freshwater gave an extra credit assignment for students to view the movie "Expelled" which does involve intelligent design.


Linda Weston, the district's director of teaching and learning, indicated to the investigators that she had been with the district for 11 years and has had to deal with a number of complaints about Mr. Freshwater from fellow teachers, his students, and parents during that time. She said she had reported these incidents to the proper officials but they took no action.

Science teachers at the Mount Vernon High School have said that Freshwater has been so negligent in his teaching of evolution they were forced to re-teach the subject to his students when they arrived at the high school.


Yesterday, the school board voted 5-0 to fire Mr. Freshwater. "Board president Ian Watson said the board will proceed with termination at its meeting on July 7, unless Freshwater files a written request for a hearing within 10 days of receiving notice of the board's intent to fire him."

But even before the school board published its decision, threats were in the air. Minutemen United have threatened and now followed through on launching a petition to recall the entire school board. Daubenmire, founder of Minutemen United and Freshwater's friend claimed the whole thing was a "witch hunt."

You can read more about Minutemen United here. A fairly typical, though more activist Christian Right group, they claim to "have set Jesus as their standard of behavior and source of wisdom." Actually, they wouldn't know Jesus if he bounced off their heads!

Their petition is unlikely to have much of an impact, other than further dividing the community - but you know, they're just following Jesus' example!


A couple of thoughts. This Freshwater clown should have been fired years ago. The Bible on his desk was thought by some to be a minor thing, but I'm not so sure. It would be a very powerful symbol to middle school students, and a conflicting one. It was a message to his students! How should they react to this very religious person? What did he want from them? Should they, too, carry a Bible? Should they believe what he says about the Bible? A decent human being would have immediately placed the Bible in his desk. By refusing to do so, he should have been fired!

If he did not want to teach evolution, the honest thing would have been for him to quit and find a job in a parochial school where he could teach creationism/intelligent design. It was deceitful to use his cover as a science teacher to fill the minds of gullible students with fundamentalist Christian beliefs. For that deceit, he should have been fired!

He lied about the cross. For burning a cross into a student's arm he should have been fired. For lying about it he should have been fired.


It is fascinating to me that so many fundamentalist Christians like Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, George Bush, David Vitter, Jim Bakker, etc., lie so easily. The Freshwater investigation team must have known that because Freshwater lied about the cross burnt into the student's arm, he would lie about his FCA participation. If Freshwater could have been trusted to tell the truth, all they would have had to do was ask him, "Did you offer a prayer for healing?"

So the Freshwater case wasn't merely a minor squabble between a teacher and his administrators. He was about a man who engaged in a long-term pattern of lies and deceit in order to press upon his students, not the science he was supposed to be teaching, but his personal religious views.

If he was an honest man, he would slink off into the shadows and seek a position where he was authorized to teach his fundamentalist Christian views.

Because he is not an honest man, we'll no doubt be treated to his appeal and more accusations that his dismissal is the result of a "witch hunt" only because he is a Christian.

Barf!