Creationist ex-teacher who etched cross on Student’s arm Loses Appeal
A request by the former Mount Vernon Middle School teacher for Eyster to conduct additional hearings “is not well taken,” the judge wrote.
The school board in the community about 40 miles northeast of Columbus first tried to dismiss Freshwater in 2008 after investigators reported that he preached Christian beliefs in class when discussing topics such as evolution and homosexuality, and was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible from his classroom.
Freshwater appealed to an outside referee, a state hearing officer, utilizing a right of teachers facing firing in Ohio. The hearing officer recommended in January that Freshwater’s contract be terminated, and the school board formally fired him within days.
Judge Eyster noted in his ruling that he reviewed the 6,344 pages of transcript and approximately 350 exhibits from the referee’s hearing.
Freshwater also was accused of using a science tool to burn students’ arms with the image of a cross, but that allegation was resolved and not a factor in his firing.