Saturday, June 21, 2008

Ohio School Fires Controversial Science Teacher

On Friday, the Mount Vernon (OH) City School Board voted unanimously to fire controversial science teacher John Freshwater. (See prior posting.) AP reports that the vote came one day after a consulting firm released its report on Freshwater. The report (full text ) concludes that Freshwater taught creationism or intelligent design in class, told his class that anyone who is gay is a sinner, improperly used an electrostatic device to put a cross on the arm of a student, was excessively involved in the school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was insubordinate in failing to remove religious materials when ordered to do so by his principal. [Thanks for leads to Scott Mange and Dispatches from the Culture Wars.]