MOUNT VERNON — The termination hearing for suspended Mount Vernon Middle School science teacher John Freshwater began this morning at the Knox County Service Center.

The Mount Vernon school board voted in June to consider the termination of Freshwater’s teaching contract due to a number of allegations of professional misconduct, based in part on complaints filed by the parents of a particular student. (In related documents, the parents and student are referred to as the Doe family for confidentiality reasons.) Freshwater then requested a hearing as allowed by law. An impartial referee, R. Lee Shepherd, will conduct the hearing.

Attorneys for Freshwater and the school board received a list of referees submitted by the Ohio Department of Education and agreed to have Shepherd, director of law for the city of Shelby, act as referee.