MOUNT VERNON — Nearly 100 people gathered on Mount Vernon’s Public Square on Wednesday afternoon, in a show of support for middle school science teacher John Freshwater. The Mount Vernon City School administration has demanded Freshwater remove a Bible from his desk at school, even though a Bible has been a fixture in his classroom for many years.
The school district told Freshwater he cannot, as a public school teacher, engage in any activity that promotes or denigrates a particular religion.
Freshwater complied with a request to remove a a copy of the 10 commandments from display in his classroom, but is resistant to removing the Bible. He said the district’s mandate is an infringement of his First Amendment rights to free speech and to freely express his beliefs.
It is unclear as to what prompted the school district’s action.
