Mount Vernon News

MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon Middle School science teacher John Freshwater refused to move his Bible from his classroom desk after school officials requested that he do so. At a rally on Public Square on Wednesday, he defended his right to display his personal Bible as a constitutional right. If he’s looking for the American Civil Liberties Union to defend him, he could be disappointed.

“Because the Bible is personal and private property, and a source of personal inner strength in my own life, the removal of it from my desk would be nothing short of infringement of my own deeply held religion beliefs, granted by God and guaranteed under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” Freshwater said Wednesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union doesn’t agree. As a public school employee, the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and religion don’t necessarily convert inside the classroom. The ACLU of Ohio supports the Mount Vernon Board of Education’s request that Freshwater keep his Bible out of sight when children are in the classroom.

“This really should have an easy resolution,” said Christine Link, executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. “The courts have recognized that our teachers have a special position and they can’t use their post to promote [religion].”

Link said that as a citizen, the ACLU would defend a teacher’s right to his or her beliefs outside of the classroom. However, inside the school it becomes a different scenario altogether.

“The relationship [between teacher and student] is special,” Link said. “The teacher is a hyper-authority figure and they can’t promote religious beliefs or even political views.”

As a teacher in a public school system, Link suggests that Freshwater put his Bible away.

“If it’s in a desk, locker or in the teacher’s lounge, it would be fine,” Link said. “It is not permissible [to display his Bible] at work. You have to pay the piper when you are at work and follow the rules of your employer. [As a] public employee, [a teacher] has less rights to proselytize their religion.”

Link went on to repeat a position that has been brought up in many conversations throughout the county in regard to the subject.

“If it is all OK with the Bible, would it be OK if the Quran was on his desk?” she asked.

When asked if the school board should proceed with a deadline for Freshwater to remove his Bible, Link said the ACLU would not get involved, but cautioned that if the situation is not quickly resolved, it could end up being “traumatic and expensive.”

The board’s request to have Freshwater remove his Bible from students’ view was correct, according to Link.

“The school system is doing exactly the right thing,” she said. “It is actually acting in a way that is protecting them from a lawsuit from the ACLU; and if not from us, from some other group. They are acting in a way that is responsible. They are on the right path.”

In a conversation with Board President Ian Watson on Friday, Watson told the News that the board was only asking that Freshwater put his Bible inside his desk when students are in his classroom. Watson said the situation was “not a Bible thing, but an employee thing.”

“We are not making any decisions in haste,” said board member Jody Goetzman. “I hope people understand that we are concerned about all of their concerns.”

Goetzman said she has received a large number of calls and e-mails about the issue. This, she said, proves to her that Mount Vernon is a caring community.

“I feel good about all of this,” Goetzman said. “This will give us the opportunity to grow together as one, and in the end, we’ll all be better and stronger for it.”

She said the school board does not oppose religion, but that it is “protecting the establishment of religion in schools,” as deemed by the U.S. Constitution.