MV school board bids farewell to Sharon Fair

The last regular meeting of the Mount Vernon Board of Education for 2011, held on Monday, included a presentation of a “Distinguished Service Award” to outgoing board member Sharon Fair. The board also said goodbye to Treasurer Barbara Donahue.

The legislative liaison report, by board member Paula Barone, included mention of House Bill 136 (see 55:12-58:00 in video). The board had previously approved a resolution stating opposition to HB 136, which the board said if enacted “would significantly expand the availability of vouchers for students to attend private or parochial schools” (see JPG copy of resolution). Barone said that the Ohio School Board Association “has reiterated its stance against this legislation.”

The website School Choice Ohio states about HB 136, “This proposal would give many parents the opportunity to choose an educational environment that best meets their needs rather than conforming to a one-size-fits-all model.”


(Mount Vernon Board of Education, Dec. 12, 2011 meeting)

Right Wing Watch does ‘a quick Google search’

The liberal website RightWingWatch.org posted an article Wednesday by Kyle Mantyla critical of the quality of American historian David Barton’s research. To support the criticism, Mantyla offered up information from what he acknowledged was “a quick Google search.”

The search concerned information about fired Mount Vernon Middle School teacher John Freshwater, who was a guest on Barton’s radio program WallBuildersLive.com.

After Mantyle offered up what he presented as counter-evidence to information presented on Barton’s program, Mantyle concluded by saying, “Barton's success is largely rooted in the fact that his intended audience generally doesn't question anything he says or bother to check to see if his claims are accurate or true, and this is just the latest example of how he uses that power to routinely mislead them in order to create false narratives that support his own political and religious agenda.”

What, then, was presented on Barton’s program that was so terrible? As Mantyle put it, “Freshwater was portrayed simply as a man who has been relentlessly persecuted because of his Christian faith.”

Based on “a quick Google search” Mantyle said that “Freshwater was actually fired for allegedly burning a cross onto the arms of two of his students and using his classroom to teach creationism, attack gays, and promote his religion.”

However, if someone listens to the full program instead of just the short clip that Mantyle includes, one will discover that Freshwater does acknowledge that multiple accusations were lobbed at him after he refused to remove his personal Bible from off his classroom desk.

Although it may be true that “a quick Google search reveals dozens of articles reporting” the claim of the alleged burning as a reason for Freshwater’s firing, such a claim is not supported by the primary source documents: The school board did not include that unsubstantiated allegation in their list of reasons for firing the teacher.

In the program, Freshwater does address the “Creationism” allegation: “I teach what I call a ‘robust’ evolution. I showed the evidence for evolution, and I showed evidence that was opposed to evolution. […] I stayed neutral on it and let the kids make a decision on it.” (Editor’s note: The Mount Vernon Board of Education did not state that Freshwater directly taught Creationism, but, instead, that he taught “evidence both for and against evolution” and that the “‘evidence’ against evolution was based, in large part, upon Christian religious principals of Creationism and Intelligent Design.”)

Although the school board’s reasons for the firing did include, as Mantyle mentions, the allegation that Freshwater made remarks about homosexuality to his class, that allegation itself is not supported by the relevant school records: The lone witness who testified to having heard the remarks was, according to school records, not in Freshwater’s classroom.

It is true that the school board claimed Freshwater included his religious beliefs in his teaching. That characterization by the board, however, was their summary statement of the issues involving evolution and the alleged remarks about homosexuality.

Next time, Right Wing Watch, do more than “a quick Google search.”

MV school board candidates answer questions

During a debate Thursday evening, candidates for the Mount Vernon Board of Education addressed topics ranging from church and state issues to problems with school funding.

The debate began with a questioned posed to Jeff Cline about expressing Christian values in the classroom. Cline responded that although he does not advocate preaching in the classroom he does believe that there are times when a Christian should choose to honor God’s law over man’s law.

Cline gave the example of a time, as a high school baseball coach, that he prayed and discussed his Christian beliefs with a student who had approached him asking for help with some problems. “As a Christian,” Cline told the audience, “if you have certain moral values and certain convictions, stand for them.”

Later in the evening when the matter of the school’s handling of the firing of teacher John Freshwater was brought up, Cline said that issue is one of the reasons he is running for the school board. He explained that his position on that issue is that “Freshwater was wronged.” He went on to say, “If we have another situation like that, we will make sure that it is not [handled] wrong.”

The debate was sponsored by the Knox County 912 Project and held at the Knox County Career Center, Adult Education Building.

Candidates present were Dr. Margie Bennett (Incumbent), Jeff Cline, Marie Curry and Stephen Kelly. Not present were Cheryl Feasel and Jody Goetzman (Incumbent).

Comments from Richard McLarnan were not included in video coverage of the debate due to him being a candidate for the governing board of the Knox County Educational Service Center instead of a candidate for the Mount Vernon Board of Education.

For information regarding “church and state” issues, see the article by David Barton “The Separation of Church and State.”

(“School board candidate takes on notion of 'separation of church and state'”)

(“MVBOE candidates answer questions”)

UPDATE 11-2-2011 (FACT CHECK):

School district’s expenses for recent legal matters

During the debate, Bennett responded to the issue of the expenses for recent legal matters, saying (32:33 in video):

“I would just remind everyone that the Mount Vernon City School Board was sued, we didn’t seek the lawsuit, we simply defended the school district, and it’s been upheld in each court in which it has been presented. It amounts to $300,000 per year for three years, which was one percent of our budget, for legal expenses, which is probably not exorbitant if you think of a business; we are the fifth largest employer in Mount Vernon. Am I happy that we had to spend money that way? Absolutely not. But the school board had no choice; it was obligated to defend itself. And we have attempted to put additional personnel policies in place so that more evaluation and accountability will take place at a sooner level so that hopefully teachers will know the boundaries and respect them.”

The following is a list of the recent legal matters and the cost incurred by the district (expenses covered by the district’s insurance are not included):

• The federal case Doe v. Mount Vernon Board of Education et al. (in which the Dennis family sued the school board and others): $0.00.

• The federal case Freshwater v. Mount Vernon Board of Education et al. (in which Freshwater sued the school board and others): $0.00.

• The state administrative hearing pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 3319.16 (in which evidence for and against firing Freshwater was presented to a referee): $922,425.91.

• The Knox County Court of Common Pleas case John Freshwater v. Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education (in which Freshwater appealed his firing): $0.00.

The district was not directly responsible for the legal costs in the cases in which it was sued. Although it is true that once the board decided to start the process of firing Freshwater it was obligated to have a hearing if Freshwater requested one, the board did make choices that affected the cost incurred by the district for the hearing.

When Freshwater requested the hearing he also requested that the hearing be held before members of the board. Instead, the board decided to have the hearing before a referee. (Both options are allowed under Ohio law.) That decision cost $35,749.50.

When the board faced the decision of legal representation for the hearing it had two options under Ohio law: Use the services of the law director for the city of Mount Vernon or hire an attorney. The board chose to hire an attorney and ended up paying the attorney’s law firm $833,288.16.

Related documents:

The schools’ expenses for legal matters. 75KB PDF.

Ohio law regarding the hearing and legal representation for the school board. 142KB PDF.


UPDATE (2011 SCHOOL BOARD RESULTS):

The following are the official results for the Mount Vernon Board of Education race (three positions were up for election):

Jolene Goetzman 4,375 (20.36%)

Margie Bennett 4,049 (18.84%)

Cheryl A. Feasel 3,757 (17.48%)

Marie K. Curry 3,733 (17.37%)

Jeffrey S. Cline 3,004 (13.98%)

Stephen Kelly 2,572 (11.97%)