Public School Teacher Accused of Branding Kid With Cross, Teaching Creationism

[Ian David]

Teacher Accused of Branding Kid With Cross
An Ohio Teacher Stands Accused of Teaching Creationism and Burning Student
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
June 20, 2008

The school board of a small central Ohio community voted Friday to fire a teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs despite staff complaints and burning the image of a cross on students' arms, according to the Associated Press.


Photos of the of the alleged injuries suffered when an eighth grader was burned by his science teacher. (HR On Call)

Mount Vernon Middle School veteran science teacher John Freshwater has denies any wrongdoing, his attorney told the Mount Vernon News.

Freshwater also displayed the Ten Commandments in his classroom and taught creationism, according to an independent investigation launched after the parents of the student who was allegedly branded filed a lawsuit.

The suit alleges that he regularly discussed Christianity in his science class, even "teaching the meaning of Easter and Good Friday," and kept at least one and sometimes several Bibles in the room.

More:
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5214063&page=1

[BlooInBloo]

1. God bless those who value religion over knowledge...

The evil fucking pieces of shit that they be.

[krispos42]

2. That teacher should have used IntraJesus instead

[pepperbear]

3. "John Freshwater has denied any wrongdoing..."

Right, because branding is a perfectly acceptable form of discipline.

[Imthemoon]

4. Note to self....

Buy a branding iron, so you can brand the children in your care with the image of ceiling cat. If they don't have the official ceiling cat branding iron, I'll use the flying spaghetti monster one...

[Kitty Herder]

5. If I was that kid's parent,

I would be for branding that teacher's ass. With the family cattle brand.

[Zebedeo]

6. I'd like to know more about this.

How could a teacher have made a middle school student sit still for branding? What was used to accomplish the branding? Was this in the classroom in front of other students? Who would just sit there and allow this to happen? Wouldn't there have been screaming and kids running down the hall and getting another teacher or the school security officer?

I wonder if the branding part of this story will turn out to be a hoax. As for the other part of the story, teaching the meaning of Easter and Good Friday is no crime, and a good education should include it. It probably would be better coming in Social Studies rather than Science class, but maybe this teacher believed in interdisciplinary learning methods.

[JerseygirlCT]

8. How do you propose "teaching the meaning of Easter

and Good Friday" in a public school classroom?

In fact, pick any 3 *Christians* and you'll find 3 different answers as to what "the meaning" is.

[Zebedeo]

9. Well, you don't have to teach them as history.

You could just teach, on Good Friday, that this is the day that Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus. Christians consider this a holy day, because they believe that Jesus' death on the cross provided atonement for the sins of all those who believe in Him.

In the same manner, when it is Passover, you could tell the students that this is a holiday celebrated by Jews, who believe that God delivered the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt by sparing them from the tenth plague that was sent upon the Egyptians.

The point is, you don't have to teach religious beliefs as fact. Nevertheless, knowing what Good Friday and Easter are about is certainly part of a well-rounded education.

[JerseygirlCT]

7. Criminal charges?

I'm reading lawsuits, but if someone touched my kid like that, I'd be pressing charges. Did no one do that?