Referee: Fire teacher accused of burning cross on arms

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

A state hearing officer has recommended that a central Ohio school board fire a science teacher who is accused of burning the image of a cross on students’ arms, a newspaper reported Saturday.

John Freshwater, who had worked for the district since 1987, has been suspended without pay since 2008.

The Mount Vernon school board voted unanimously to fire him, citing an internal investigation that found he had preached his Christian beliefs in class. He also was accused of using a scientific device to mark several students’ arms with a cross and of keeping a Bible on his desk.

Fired Ohio teachers can appeal to an outside referee, which Freshwater did.

The Columbus Dispatch reported Saturday that the outside referee issued a report late Friday recommending Freshwater’s firing.

Messages for Freshwater and his attorney on Saturday were not immediately returned.

Superintendent Steve Short of Mount Vernon City Schools told the Dispatch that officials were reviewing the report and would not comment until Monday.

R. Lee Shepherd, the hearing officer assigned to the case, said Freshwater was given the chance to change his content and teaching style.

“[Freshwater] used his classroom as a means of sowing the seeds of doubt and confusion in the minds of impressionable students as they searched for meaning in the subject of science,” Shepherd wrote.