Freshwater not so finale!

Looks like the Freshwater Saga isn't yet over. He has new representation and it looks like the State of Ohio is going to wimp out. "State pulls negative letter from Freshwater's file" from the Columbus Dispatch.

Let me gets this straight, he burns crosses into kids arms, lies about teaching Intelligent Design and has the kids lie for him, and refuses to follow district guidelines and it looks like he's still going to be able to teach in Ohio. In my opinion this man has yet to show any remorse, any regret, and even the slightest hint that he might have screwed up . . . he's convinced he did nothing wrong.

He's appealing his firing and he's already had the letter of admonishment removed. Folks, there has to be something we can do if for no other reason the safety of our kids. Is this the type of person we want teaching our kids. Let's see the lessons they can learn from him again:

• How to not accept any personal responsibility for your actions.
• How to tell the school district to stick-it with any rules and regulations.
• How to teach non-science as if it were science.
• And how to teach real science so poorly that later teachers had to re-teach it.
• How to lie.
• How to convince others to lie for you.
  

This man acts more like a lawyer himself than an educator! Yet he has his 5-year license to teach. Some cash-strapped school district is probably going to give this man another chance and when the lawsuits start flying, they are going to regret it.

Does that sound harsh? I certainly hope so. This quote from the article says a great deal:

"I want to go back to teaching and to put my Bible back in the corner of my desk."

Does this sound like someone who realizes he messed up his own life? Does this sound like someone willing to accept responsibility? Does this sound like someone who has any second thoughts what-so-ever about the harm he has done? Not to me. Until he does, he can find himself some minimum wage job very far from children. The State of Ohio should not have renewed his teaching license, and I pity any school system that hires him. So far he hasn't had any luck, even though he claims there were openings.

Does he even have a clue why a school system would hesitate to hire him? In my opinion I think he's going to start suing school system that refuse to hire him. The article has already set the stage:

"Religious freedom is considered the first freedom," said Rita Dunaway, staff attorney for the [Rutherford] institute. "A big factor in the reason we got involved in this case ... is that it looks like a lot of what happened to Mr. Freshwater dealt with him expressing his beliefs."

The Rutherford Institute is trying to turn this into a Religious Freedom case. Let me be one of the many who will remind the Rutherford Institute that here is a man who burned crosses into kids arms, lied about what he taught, refused to teach what he was supposed to teach, and encouraged his own students to cover for him. This isn't about religion, it's about a teacher who let his own beliefs interfere with his ability to do his job. He deserved to be fired, he should remain a former-teacher for the rest of his life. He should look back on all the harm he has done to his former profession, to the kids who were willing to lie for him, and admit to the lousy job he did as a teacher and realize that he brought it all on himself and do something different like accept responsibility for what he did. But he won't because there will always be someone, usually a lawyer, who will tell him it was always somebody else to blame.

Apparently the humility we so often hear about going side-by-side with religious beliefs clearly passed him by.