The referee who evaluated the case for termination nicely summed up in one sentence (PDF) exactly what you can't do when you're a public school science teacher:
...He persisted in his attempts to make eighth grade science what he thought it should be - an examination of accepted scientific curriculum with the discerning eye of Christian Doctrine.
Freshwater demonstrated (yet again) the real motivation behind policies of "teach the evidence for and against evolution":
In 2003, John Freshwater [the teacher] petitioned the Board asking for the implementation of a new Board policy. His proposed policy was titled "Objective Origins Science Policy". He advised the Board (through the proposal)... "much of the evidence that supports the Darwinian Evolution Theory which is taught in our public schools is controversial". His proposed solution was the addition of a Board policy "that allows teachers/students to critically examine the evidence both for and against evolution". John Freshwater's proposal was rejected and his suggested policy not adopted. Nonetheless, he undertook the instruction of these eighth graders as if the suggested policy had been implemented. Both overtly and covertly, John Freshwater began to instruct his eighth grade students in such a way that they were examining evidence both for and against evolution....
Exacerbating this situation was the fact that the evidence against evolution was based, in large part, upon the Christian religious principals [sic] of Creationism and Intelligent Design.
And here is Freshwater, teaching like it was 1906 and not 2006:
Perhaps the most egregious example of Joh Freshwater's "failure to adhere to established curriculum" took place in the fall of 2006...
... John Freshwater told his 13 and 14 year old public school students that the Bible states that homosexuality is a sin, so anyone who chooses to be homosexual is a sinner. Mr. Stockdale [another teacher present in the classroom] described how Mr. Freshwater attempted to relate this comment to the subject of science by advising his students that science and scientists can be wrong - as when they (the scientists) declare that there is a genetic predisposition to homosexuality. Thus, in one incident, witnessed by an experienced and seasoned educator, John Freshwater not only injected his subjective, biased, Christian religious based, non-scientific opinion into the instruction of eighth grade science students, but also gave those students reason to doubt the accuracy and or veracity of scientists, science textbooks, and/or science in general.
My editorial comment: while doubt and skepticism of scientific results are good, and in fact critical, they cease to be scientifically useful when doubt and skepticism are simply used as a defense of your own unquestioned religious beliefs against perceived threats.
What's most sad about this story is that this guy was fired only after a half-million dollar lawsuit (which the school district lost) and two years of administrative hearings. A colossal waste of time and money.
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