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I wish I was kidding, but I am not. I have heard people say "What Christian fundamentalist terrorists"? Well, Here is one...
School board votes to fire teacher over religious teaching
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The Mount
Vernon school board voted 5-0 late Friday to move ahead on firing a
science teacher after an investigation showed he preached his Christian
beliefs in class and used a device to burn the image of a cross on
students' arms.
The board's attorney, David Millstone, said John Freshwater would be entitled to a hearing to challenge the dismissal.
Kelly
Hamilton, who represents Freshwater, told the Mount Vernon News he
would request such a hearing and Freshwater denied any wrongdoing.
School
board members took up the issue one day after consulting firm H.R. On
Call Inc. released its report on the teacher's case.
The
report was released one week after a family filed a lawsuit in U.S.
District Court in Columbus against Freshwater and the school district,
saying Freshwater burned a cross on their child's arm that remained for
three or four weeks.
Freshwater's friend Dave Daubenmire defended him.
"With
the exception of the cross-burning episode. ... I believe John
Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon
school district," he told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published
Friday.
Several
students interviewed by investigators described Freshwater, who has
been employed by the school district for 21 years, as a "great guy" and
their "favorite teacher." But Lynda Weston, the district's director of
teaching and learning, told investigators she has dealt with complaints
about Freshwater for much of her 11 years at the district.
A
former superintendent, Jeff Maley, said he tried to find another
position for Freshwater but couldn't because Freshwater was certified
only in science, the report said.
Freshwater
used a science tool known as a high frequency generator to burn images
of a cross on students' arms in December, the report said. Freshwater
told investigators he simply was trying to demonstrate the device on
three to eight students and described the images an "X" not a cross.
But pictures show the images depict a cross, the report said.
Other
findings show Freshwater taught the unreliability of carbon dating in
support of opposition to evolution. He also told his class
homosexuality is a sin.
Yea, "sin" there is a word in science books everywhere...
