Freshwater v. Mount Vernon City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 19 November 2013
• Docket Number: No. 2012–0613.,2012–0613.
• Citation: 137 Ohio St.3d 469,1 N.E.3d 335
• Parties: FRESHWATER, Appellant, v. MOUNT VERNON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION, Appellee.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

137 Ohio St.3d 469

1 N.E.3d 335

FRESHWATER, Appellant,

v.MOUNT VERNON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION, Appellee.

No. 2012–0613.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted Feb. 27, 2013.

Decided Nov. 19, 2013.

Syllabus of the Court

In a proceeding under R.C. 3319.16 for the termination of a public school teacher's contract, “good and just cause” includes insubordination consisting of a willful disobedience of, or refusal to obey, a reasonable and valid rule, regulation, or order issued by a school board or by an administrative superior.

The Law Office of R. Kelly Hamilton, L.L.C., and R. Kelly Hamilton; and the Rutherford Institute and Rita M. Dunaway, for appellant.

Britton Smith Peters & Kalail Co., L.P.A., David Kane Smith, Krista Keim, and Paul J. Deegan, Cleveland, for appellee.

Appignani Humanist Legal Center and William J. Burgess, urging affirmance for amici curiae American Humanist Association and the Secular Student Alliance.

Mayer Brown, L.L.P., Charles P. Hurley, Richard B. Katskee, and Scott M. Noveck, urging affirmance for amici curiae Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Anti–Defamation League.

Lape Mansfield & Nakasian, L.L.C., and Douglas M. Mansfield, Powell, urging affirmance for amici curiae Stephen Dennis and Jenifer Dennis.

Calfee, Halter & Griswold, L.L.P., Christopher S. Williams, Colleen M. O'Neil, and Jeffrey J. Lauderdale, Cleveland,urging affirmance for amicus curiae National Center for Science Education.

O'CONNOR, C.J.

{¶ 1} In this appeal, we determine whether the evidence supports the stated reasons for terminating the employment of a public school teacher, appellant, John Freshwater, for introducing religion into his eighth-grade science classes and for insubordination. More specifically, we must address whether the evidence was sufficient to demonstrate that appellee, Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education (“the board” or “the district”), terminated Freshwater for insubordination in refusing to remove religious displays in his classroom after being told to do so, and for continuing to inject his personal religious beliefs into his plan and pattern of instruction, thereby exceeding the bounds of the school district's bylaws and policies, even after being forbidden to do so.

{¶ 2} After detailed review of the voluminous record in this case, we hold that the court of appeals did not err in affirming the termination. The trial court properly found that the record supports, by clear and convincing evidence, Freshwater's termination for insubordination in failing to comply with orders to remove religious materials from his classroom. Accordingly, based on our resolution of this threshold issue, we need not reach the constitutional issue of whether Freshwater impermissibly imposed his religious beliefs in his classroom. We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals because there was ample evidence of insubordination to justify the termination decision.

Relevant Background

{¶ 3} Mount Vernon School Board asserts that despite the district's instructions to cease doing so, Freshwater unequivocally injected his own Christian faith into his classroom as early as 1994 and continued to do so right up until he was relieved of his teaching duties. The board also asserts that after it denied Freshwater's 2003 teaching proposal to critically evaluate evolution, Freshwater surreptitiously supplemented his eighth-grade science curriculum with religious handouts, showed videos on creationism and intelligent design, displayed religious materials in his classroom, and made various statements in class referring to the Bible.

{¶ 4} Freshwater, on the other hand, argues that the board violated his right to academic freedom pursuant to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution when it terminated him based on the content or viewpoint of his curriculum-related academic discussions with students and his use of supplemental academic materials.

{¶ 5} We agree with the board and find that there is ample support for Freshwater's termination based upon insubordination. We resolve this case solely as a teacher-employment-termination case governed by R.C. 3319.16, which sets forth standards and procedures for termination of teaching contracts by boards of education. We need not address the various constitutional issues raised by Freshwater, because we resolve this appeal on an other-than-constitutional ground. See, e.g., State ex rel. Essig v. Blackwell, 103 Ohio St.3d 481, 2004-Ohio-5586, 817 N.E.2d 5, ¶ 34, citing State ex rel. DeBrosse v. Cool, 87 Ohio St.3d 1, 7, 716 N.E.2d 1114 (1999) (“Courts decide constitutional issues only when absolutely necessary”).

Early Conduct

{¶ 6} The legal battle in this case began largely in 2007, when a student and his parents alleged that Freshwater used a Tesla coil ¹ in class to make a mark on the student's arm. But the antecedents of this case go back to 1994, when district administrators first instructed Freshwater not to distribute materials informing his students about a religious seminar. And district officials advised and counseled Freshwater multiple times about similar behavior in the 15 years that followed, directing him not to incorporate religious documents based upon creationism or intelligent design into his classroom instruction and to remove displays of religious materials from the classroom.

{¶ 7} The voluminous record here establishes, by clear and convincing evidence, that Freshwater has been insubordinate in the course of his employment with the district. For purposes of this appeal, however, we are specifically concerned with the occurrences of 2007 forward.

{¶ 8} Thus, we find it necessary to review in detail the evidence presented in the hearing conducted by a referee considering whether termination was warranted and summarized in the referee's report issued after the hearing.

Background to the Referee's Report and the Evidence at the Hearing

{¶ 9} After the hearing, which involved 38 different days of witness testimony spread out over almost 21 months, included more than 80 witnesses and hundreds of exhibits, and ultimately resulted in over 6,000 pages of transcript, the referee issued a report on January 7, 2011. In his report, the referee set forth the facts, including an overview of Freshwater's sometimes contentious teaching record.

{¶ 10} The referee addressed the four grounds asserted by the board in considering Freshwater's termination: (1) the Tesla-coil incident, (2) his failure to adhere to established curriculum, (3) his role as administration-appointed facilitator, monitor, and supervisor of the student group Fellowship of Christian Athletes (“FCA”), and (4) his disobedience of orders.

{¶ 11} The referee ultimately concluded in his report that grounds two and four were valid bases to support Freshwater's termination.

Freshwater's teaching record and evaluations contain references to his incorporation of creationism and intelligent design in his classroom instruction

{¶ 12} In 1987, the board hired Freshwater as an eighth-grade science teacher. In addition to his teaching duties, Freshwater served as the administration-appointed facilitator, monitor, and supervisor of the FCA for more than 15 years.

{¶ 13} Freshwater's students at Mount Vernon Middle School often performed at or above the state's standards and requirements in achievement testing. Dr. Lynda Weston, former director of teaching and learning for the district, testified that Freshwater's students' science scores on state standardized tests were “the highest of the three eighth grade science teachers.”

{¶ 14} William Oxenford, a seventh-grade science teacher at Mount Vernon Middle School, also served as an academic-achievement coach. In the latter capacity, Oxenford was responsible for coordinating the implementation of strategies that would assist students in passing the achievement test. He confirmed that Freshwater's students had the highest performance level on achievements tests of the students taught by the three eighth-grade science teachers. Similarly, Kerri Mahan, a teacher at Mount Vernon Middle School who also served on the “data team” for improving standardized-test performance, testified that Freshwater's students “showed proficiency and achievement” on those tests.

{¶ 15} During his employment with the district, Freshwater received at least 20 performance evaluations. Almost all were positive. In fact, Freshwater had never been disciplined before the precipitating events. But Freshwater's teaching career certainly was not without controversy.

{¶ 16} Freshwater's evaluations and communications from his superiors repeatedly directed him to cease distributing documents that presented students with information about intelligent design and creationism. Freshwater was admonished a number of times to abide by the board's policy forbidding the teaching of religious thought in the curriculum.

{¶ 17} The first of these incidents occurred on September 19, 1994, when Freshwater received a memorandum from Jeff Kuntz, then the principal at Mount Vernon Middle School, regarding Freshwater's distribution to students of a handout entitled “Answers In Genesis” giving information about an upcoming seminar. The handout discussed in the memorandum described a “ free meeting * * * for students * * * [to] learn the evidence that supports creation—and denies evolution.” (Emphasis sic.) The handout also stated that the seminar would “reveal why it is vital to believe in Genesis as it is written * * * [and] declare that many of the important issues in our troubled society (the breakdown of the family, abortion, lawlessness, etc.) are related to evolution!”

{¶ 18} In the memorandum, Kuntz instructed Freshwater to “please refrain from distributing materials not supported by your adopted course of study to students. Your classroom is not an appropriate format for disseminating information on religious seminars to students. In addition,...