MOUNT VERNON — Educational issues are volatile topics of discussion. Throw religion into the mix and emotions become even more explosive. The dispute between middle school science teacher John Freshwater and the Mount Vernon school administration and school board has spilled over into the community at large.
Freshwater contends that the disagreement is centered on his having a Bible in the classroom; the school administration is investigating other allegations. One of those allegations is that actions by Freshwater resulted in a severe burn to a student’s arm.
Calls to Freshwater and his attorney regarding the burn allegations have not been returned. However, in an e-mail, Freshwater’s attorney Roger Weaver said, “The other matters the board has raised are being investigated by us, too, and we will be prepared to comment on these matters in the future.”
The News talked with others regarding electrical experiments.
Dr. Joseph Lechner, professor and chemistry department chairman at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, said that, in his experience, the science equipment in a school classroom typically should not cause a burn. A common experiment, he said, is to use something like a Tesla coil to generate (static) electricity. “You can hold it about half-inch away from an object and can see and hear sparks. The voltage is high but the current is low. It shouldn’t cause a burn.”
Two of Matt Skinner’s children have gone through Mount Vernon Middle School, and another still attends the school. Skinner said he is really frustrated with the allegations of burning, “considering that teachers can’t even raise their voice to a child anymore, much less burn crosses on their arms.
“I’ve only met Mr. Freshwater about twice,” Skinner continued. “I just have kids that go there. Every kid that’s passed through his (Freshwater’s) class has played with that little electromagnetic ball. My kid said it’s just a little magnetic ball and you can feel the static electricity in it, and they pass it around and everybody goes ‘oooh’ and that’s as far as it has ever gone in their opinion.”
Skinner is also unhappy with the media coverage surrounding the Freshwater situation. “We’re known for being the little country town that is pretty much cool to live at,” he said. “And now they’re making it sound like we’re a bunch of weirdoes.”
Retired middle school science teacher Jeff George worked alongside Freshwater at Mount Vernon Middle School in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Most science textbooks suggest experiments and hands-on activities to go along with the lessons, George said, and static electricity demonstrations are typical. Also, sometimes the students will initiate an activity, George said. “They raise a question and the teacher says, ‘Let’s try it.’” George said he was doubtful that typical classroom equipment could cause a serious burn. He himself used Tesla coils and Vandergraph generators to demonstrate how electricity passes through objects, or is insulated from them. To cause a burn, George said, “You would have to hold it in one spot for long time maybe five minutes.”
Clarification
Comments from Jeff George should have read, “If the allegations against John are true, he could have been fired a long time ago. I think he is a good guy and I have never wished, and don’t wish now, for him to be fired.”
George said there may be substance to other allegations that Freshwater used the classroom to advance his own personal beliefs. “The school administration has known for a long time that Freshwater was crossing the line, and he should have been fired a long time ago.”
George recalls several occasions when Freshwater “didn’t always stay on track with science. What he was teaching was not true, and there have been numerous complaints over the years.” (On more than one occasion, evaluations in Freshwater’s file indicate that Freshwater was directed to work more closely with George in following the course of study.)
George also remembers a time when a school principal specifically told Freshwater to stop distributing religious materials in class. Freshwater then, George said, numbered the religious items, and collected them at the end of the class period to make sure none would leave the classroom.
“He (Freshwater) was promoting a particular belief system,” George said, “and preached against other religions, not just Muslims or Jews or Hindus, but also any Christian denomination that was different from his.”
