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
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