Ohio: the cost of firing a dangerous lunatic

Well, former Ohio "science teacher" John Freshwater has been effectively given the boot by his school board, and it's for reasons that are all too clear to anyone with an IQ higher than their shoe size as to why:

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 Ten Commandments and Bible verses, branding crosses on the arms of his students with a high-voltage electrical device, and teaching creationism. After a local family sued Freshwater and the district in 2008, the board voted to begin proceedings to terminate his employment in the district. Finally, after administrative hearings that proceeded sporadically over two years, the referee presiding over the hearings issued his recommendation that the board terminate his employment with the district.

It's not just the fact that Freshwater is yet another YEC hack who used his science classes to push his religious views in a public school district; as stated above and by Ed Brayton previously, he engaged in behavior that would be considered criminal assault in practically any other environment:

The now-infamous incident where Freshwater burned crosses into the arms of two students, including the plaintiff in this case, took place on Dec. 6, 2007. On December 7, 2007, the parents notified the superintendent of schools, Stephen Short. of what had happened.


Here's the stunning part: Freshwater was not disciplined at all for it. The principal wrote a letter to Freshwater telling him not to do it again, but didn't even place a copy of that letter in his personnel file (he told the parents that if Freshwater disobeyed the letter, then they would place the letter in his file). That was it, the sum total of the school's reaction to Freshwater's actions.

Remember, this cross was 6 inches long on the kid's arm and it was made with a device that comes with a warning never to bring it in contact with human skin. It raised welts and blisters and was a serious burn that will likely leave a scar. A science teacher used a high voltage device to burn that cross into an 8th grader's arm, for crying out loud. Not only should he have been fired on the spot, the case should have been referred to the prosecutor's office.

Since this case dragged on for over two years, it's unsurprising that the Mount Vernon school board will have to pay a heavy sum in order to have this idiot fired even before a possible appeal gets filed:

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.
   
And all of this in order to fire a man who thought it actually would be a good idea to burn children with an electrical device in order to instill religious beliefs he wasn't supposed to be promoting in the first place.

The mind reels.