Freshwater hearing delayed again

MOUNT VERNON — The termination hearing of Mount Vernon Middle School teacher John Freshwater has once again been delayed.

13 Responses to “ Freshwater hearing delayed again”

  1. charley horse says:

    Debra D.——-Which religion do you want in your public schools? Which god or gods do you want the kids to think is/are real?

    Teaching the kids what Freshwater was teaching them is like a math teacher telling the students that 2+2=3.
    He was teaching them that dinosaurs and humans existed at the same time. He is an ignorant creationist. He did not belong in a science class that he was never qualified to teach. He was a fake. A phony.

    You want to get the hearing over with? Send him the bill for what his sure to lose hearing will cost. Over $200,000 and growing.

  2. Manti says:

    religion does not belong in a science class room, nor any classroom. If parents want to teach their kids that the earth is 4000 years old, that’s their perogative, but it doesn’t hurt them to actually understand scientific fact.

    If parents expect schools to teach sex ed. the kids ought to learn some biology along with it.

    although I suppose there’s no biology required to tell kids ‘don’t do it ever or you’ll get 5 STDs and get knocked up even with condoms’

  3. Debra D. says:

    When the Government stepped in and made it Law to take religion out of the classroom, look what happened to the majority of our children, more juvenile delinquents, parents taking less control of their children, putting the responsibility on the teachers. mbacker you DO NOT GET IT DO YOU? Have you ever been raised in a Christian atmosphere? Most parents these days don’t take time to go to church, much less read the Holy Bible, how are our children supposed to learn if the parents don’ teach them? What if they reach out to someone else for questions, do we deny them the answers? There are worse things taught in public schools than religion. We should be worrying about the street drugs, teenage pregnancy, truancy and the like, if you want a debat, have at it, I am up for the challenge. As for the delays, it sounds like you have all the answers to that also, are you a know it all too? Been with one of those for 10 years of my life, have had enough of that crap. I am not convinced!

  4. mbaker says:

    Debra D. you are absolutely wrong about religion being in the classroom. Not only is it prohibited by law, their are also other childer in the classroom from various other religions. It is the parents responsibilty to educate the childen religion at home. As far as the delay in the proceedings, it is excessive and is a burden on everyone including the children that the Freshwater contract issue has not been resolved. In addition, their is no reason with a month delay that everyone can not come togather to finish this. Everyone should have cleared and organized their calenders for the amount of time the referee felt this would taken in the begining and alotted that amount of time on their calenders. Additional time should also have been alotted at the end of the time alotted, in case the hearing took longer which can and often does happen.

  5. whatever says:

    The MV News states Mr Hamilton says ” because of his client’s desire to protect the privacy of the students.”
    Didn’t the school board try to get the kids privacy protected at the very beginning of this?
    In the 10/8 news it stated “The school board’s attorney, David Millstone, said he was disappointed that Freshwater was unwilling to permit the students to be able to testify without being put under public pressure, and testify and without having their names disclosed to the public.
    “This is an emotional, heated issue,” he said, “which makes it very difficult for young people. Our concern, our first concern, is the well-being of the students. So we’re very disappointed with that. ”

    What has changed Mr Freshwaters mind?

  6. Debra D. says:

    I still believe that this whole issue is a religious one! The family started it, tried to remain annonymous, found out they couldn’t , now the heat is on! I hope Mr. Freshwater keeps his position , the schools needs religion put back in the classroom, it didn’t hurt me, it can only help these poor misguided kids of todays’ society. Good luck Mr. Freshwater!

  7. MDK says:

    Annonymous-
    The insurance lawyers and the Dennis family lawyer are not involved in the proceedings with this hearing. I think that the insurance lawyers and the Dennis family lawyer haven’t even been present at some of the hearings. I believe that all that needs to be there are the referee, the schools lawyer and Mr. freshwaters lawyer. That is only 3 peoples availability, shouldn’t be hard to work out!!

  8. DD says:

    R. Kelly is perfectly aware that at the beginning of this hearing the Dennis family attempted to have the testimony of their son and any other children be given in anonymity to protect them. Now all of a sudden, it’s a good idea because it’s his idea (with a twist). Too bad – what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Sorry JoeB, but you should know the facts before you post as if you know them. The reason the hearing is taking so long is because of all the lawyers involved. Believe me, everyone wants it to be done and over with! There are several lawyers involved from many different angles and the hearing cannot resume unless each and every one of them is available each day. This is never an easy task. There is the school board’s lawyer, Freshwater’s lawyer, the Dennis family’s lawyer, a couple of insurance lawyers, and the referee himself that all need to coordinate their schedules.

  10. JoeB says:

    It is sad that this is drawing on so long. But, this is happening because the school let this teacher get away without discipline for so long. He now feels as though he should be immune to punishment and is making the process long and drawn to keep his job. At this juncture, he will NEVER be an effective teacher in this school district because of all that has come before and because of the necessity of this loonnnnggg trial. He should try to work through his lawyer to ask for an equitable settlement to just go away.

  11. JD says:

    If the governor of Illinois can go from zero to impeached in a month, we ought to be able to decide one way or another on this case in less than a year.

  12. Jaguar says:

    One is almost reminded of K in Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.”

  13. MDK says:

    Let’s get it over with already!