TRI In The News

State Pulls Negative Letter from Freshwater's File

July 20, 2011

7/20/2011

TRI IN THE NEWS: STATE PULLS NEGATIVE LETTER FROM FRESHWATER'S FILE

From The Columbus Dispatch

The Ohio Department of Education has removed its letter of admonishment from the disciplinary file of a fired Mount Vernon science teacher while it considers a legal challenge.

The Virginia-based Rutherford Institute told the department this month that John Freshwater was denied his due-process rights when the state rebuked him for using an electrical device to burn students' arms.

The institute said Freshwater was not given the opportunity to defend himself before the admonishment was issued.

Freshwater, fired in January for teaching creationism and religious doctrine in his eighth-grade classroom, yesterday hailed the news.

"The admonishment letter was there and now it's not there," he said from his Mount Vernon home. "It's a victory and I'll take any victory I can get."

The department also renewed Freshwater's five-year high-school teaching license on April 8, meaning he is eligible to teach again in Ohio.

"A letter of admonishment would not prevent an educator from applying for a renewal license or whatever type of certificate," Education Department spokesman Patrick Gallaway said in an email.

After the institute objected to the department's actions, the head of the teacher-discipline office wrote that the letter and Freshwater's response were removed from the disciplinary file "while considering this matter."

The July 12 letter from Lori M. Kelly, director of the Office of Professional Conduct, said, "You will be notified if the department intends to proceed with discipline."

Freshwater said he wants to return to teaching but has been unable to land a job.

"I've come across several times where positions have been available and I was refused the position," Freshwater said yesterday. "Obviously, I've been affected by the litigation, all the negative publicity. ...

"I want to go back to teaching and to put my Bible back in the corner of my desk."

Galloway said the department doesn't have to provide notice or a hearing before a letter of admonishment. "The state was not pursuing a suspension, revocation or limitation of Mr. Freshwater's license. Those are the types of discipline that would trigger a hearing etc.," he wrote.

To pay legal fees, Freshwater said he's sold his home on several acres to a former student. He now lives with his wife and daughter in a Mount Vernon rental.

He is appealing the school district's unanimous decision to fire him in Knox County Common Pleas Court.

"Religious freedom is considered the first freedom," said Rita Dunaway, staff attorney for the institute. "A big factor in the reason we got involved in this case ... is that it looks like a lot of what happened to Mr. Freshwater dealt with him expressing his beliefs."

As for allegations that Freshwater taught creationism over evolution, she said, "I think it's a great teacher who encourages his students to think critically about everything they are taught."