1. pharyngula
  2. Finally!

Finally!

By pharyngula on January 11, 2011.

If you've been following Richard Hoppe's coverage of the John Freshwater trial on the Panda's Thumb, you know this event has been dragging along like the OJ trial, only with less media pandemonium and now, at last, a less unsatisfying outcome. Freshwater, you may recall, is the bible-thumping public school science teacher who was more interested in promoting Christianity than science in the classroom, and whose most egregious error was using a gadget to burn crosses into students' arms.

He'll be getting his sadistic Christian jollies at the expense of students no more: John Freshwater has been officially terminated from employment by the Mount Vernon school district.

It's a win-win situation. Now the students will (we hope) get decent science educations and no longer be afflicted with an evangelical freak, and Freshwater can now move on to his lucrative new career as martyr.

There is one loser, though: the taxpayers of Mount Vernon, Ohio. They get to pay the $900,000 bill. That's a message that every school district should take to heart—if you've got a teacher who uses the public school classroom to proselytize, to peddle religion or creationism, you've got a major liability on your hands.

Tags
creationism

More like this

A further defeat for Freshwater
From the NCSE: John Freshwater's legal challenge to the decision to terminate his employment as a middle school science teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio, was defeated again, on March 5, 2012, when Ohio's Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld (PDF) a lower court's rejection of his challenge. It is…
What to do when the other side doesn't argue in good faith?
John Freshwater, the Ohio science teacher who uses his classroom to proselytize and promote creationism, is following a familiar tactic: LIE. Supporters of a middle school science teacher facing firing for burning crosses into students' arms were in the majority at a central Ohio school board…
Creationist Science Teacher Who Burned Crosses Into Students Flesh: More Information
"At a contentious public meeting in Mount Vernon, Ohio, the district school board scheduled a hearing on whether to fire teacher John Freshwater. Freshwater has been accused of teaching intelligent design in his biology classes, and of using a piece of lab equipment to brand a cross on a student's…
Creationist Teacher Fired
On January 10, 2011, the Mount Vernon City Schools Board of Education voted 4-1 to terminate the employment of John Freshwater. A middle school science teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Freshwater was accused of inappropriate religious activity in the classroom -- including displaying posters with the…