The Columbus Dispatch - Ohio January 11, 2011
Mount Vernon schools pay to uphold Freshwater firing
BY DEAN NARCISO AND BILL BUSH | Columbus Dispatch
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio -- Mount Vernon taxpayers will spend more than $900,000 for the process that determined whether an eighth-grade science teacher accused of melding religion and science should have been fired.
The Mount Vernon school district updated its costs yesterday, after a hearing referee submitted his opinion Friday that John Freshwater should be fired.
The five-member school board met last night and agreed in a 4-1 vote to accept that decision.
The lone no vote came from board member Steve Thompson, who was elected to the board after the original vote to terminate Freshwater was made unanimously in 2008. He is a longtime supporter of Freshwater's and helped to raise money for his legal defense.
School-board members met for more than two hours in a private session to discuss Freshwater's case and came out somber, saying little. Thompson said that "nothing constructive" had occurred.
Superintendent Steve Short said he didn't want to characterize the decision to terminate Freshwater as a victory. "I have an empty feeling in my stomach right now," he said last night.
Freshwater, who has been suspended with benefits but without pay since 2008, was officially fired as of midnight last night. If he continues to appeal the case, the next stop would be Knox County Common Pleas Court.
In an e-mail this morning, he said he was disappointed by the vote, but he did not say whether he would appeal further.
The largest component of the $902,765 bill that the Mount Vernon board must pay is to the school's attorney, David Millstone, a Cleveland lawyer with Squires Sanders and Dempsey who specializes in employment law. His firm will be paid at least $813,628.
Referee R. Lee Shepherd, who oversaw 38 days of hearing testimony, will be paid $35,749.
Court reporting costs for the hearing will be $45,747, along with security costs of $7,641 paid to the Knox County sheriff's office.
The hearing is among the most costly and lengthy that education experts can recall. Records, however, are not kept.
Asked if the cost is worth it, officials with the Ohio School Boards Association had mixed feelings.
"It's sad that they had to spend all that money to do what they thought was right all along," said Rick Lewis, executive director.
The board voted unanimously in 2008 to terminate Freshwater. But under state law, teachers are entitled to an administrative hearing to defend themselves.
The process protects teachers and also discourages districts from keeping rogue teachers in less-sensitive positions.
"Allowing somebody to resign and go away and pass those problems on to another school district isn't right, either," Lewis said.
Asked if the system works, Holly Ready, chief legal counsel for the association, said, "I think it's fairly clear that it's not working in all cases. That's a huge burden on taxpayers - we're paying for that."
This article was found at:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/01/11/copy/district-pays-to-uphold-firing.html
RELATED ARTICLES:
Teacher Accused of Branding Kid With Cross
Ex-superintendent: Science teacher should have avoided religion
Hearing for Ohio science teacher sacked for evangelizing and teaching anti-science shows great divide in U.S. society
Nebraska education administrators get mixed messages from lawyers on legality of promoting religion in schools
Vacation Liberty School uses Christian fundamentalism to politically indoctrinate children
Federal Court of Appeal asked to stop California college proselytizing and imposing religion on students
Advocacy group battles illegal Christian fundamentalist proselytizing in U.S. public schools
Fundamentalist Christian 'punk' band uses deception to evangelize and indoctrinate in U.S. schools
Radical Christian extremists aim to undermine public education by targeting high school kids for indoctrination into fundamentalist worldview
Christian fundamentalist boot-camp for kids indoctrinates them to fight 'bloody' religious war
Child Evangelism Fellowship complains it is banned from converting children in public housing project
Catholic parents upset that teen son was peer-pressured into baptism in Baptist church while on school trip
European Court of Human Rights rules crucifixes in Italian schools violates children's religious freedom to believe or not
Parental rights vs children's rights: debating the role of religious institutions in Irish education system
Church of England's proselytising plans will target children for recruitment and indoctrination
David Lynch Foundation infiltrating schools world-wide to promote Transcendental Meditation
'Spirituality for Kids' class draws fire
Scientology's African evangelism targets children for indoctrination, opens new 'school' in Ghana
Scientology Recruiting Children in South Africa
School unaware of link to Scientologists
Scientology link at Montessori school alarms parents
Dahn Yoga uses common cult recruitment tactic of targeting children for surreptitious indoctrination
Dahn Yoga cult infiltrates 300 U.S. schools with unproven brain education exercises
B.C. Education Minister defends a ministry publication that identifies a Scientology website as a potential resource for teachers
Religious indoctrination thrives in B.C. private schools because education ministry does not vet textbooks or courses
Does religion have any proper role in education?
The dangers of creationism in education
Atheist group files complaint with B.C. Ministry of Education over Christian school teaching creationism in science class
Strong Secularism: "Religious education can be a form of mental abuse."
Radical Christian extremists aim to undermine public education by targeting high school kids for indoctrination into fundamentalist worldview
Faith schools that indoctrinate children commit child abuse
What can humanist parents use in the battle against religious indoctrination?
Bob Jones University science textbook for home schoolers ignores science and critical thinking
New Hampshire court orders home-schooled Christian girl to attend a public school
Home schooling 'could be a cover for child abuse and sexual exploitation'
Get tough on home-schooling to weed out abuse, says UK review
Home school custody battle turns on religious freedom
German family seeks US asylum to homeschool kids
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment