This week I was invited out to Oklahoma to speak in the University of Oklahoma’s Darwin 2009 speaker series. It was quite a trip – I got to meet the Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education, and breakfast with Richard Dawkins himself. The evolution issue is still hot in Oklahoma, and my vi...

Previous posts on the Freshwater hearing are linked at the end of this post. The administrative hearing on the Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Board of Education’s resolution to terminate the employment of John Freshwater as an 8th grade science teacher resumed this morning for just half a day. Due to attorney ...

I was unable to attend Day 13 of the hearing. A water pipe froze overnight and I spent my day dealing with that. However, two spectators at the hearing were kind enough to send me their notes on the day’s testimony, and I’ve lightly edited them to produce this account. In addition, there are sto...

Today started late. R. Kelly Hamilton, John Freshwater’s attorney, had a commitment in Columbus in the morning and was late getting to Mt. Vernon for the scheduled 11:30 start. As a result some expensive people spent an hour waiting in and around the hearing room. Testimony today was from Debra St...

Today saw the end of the Board of Education’s case and the beginning of the presentation of John Freshwater’s case. To start this morning, David Millstone, the Board’s attorney, moved the admission of the 60 Exhibits he had introduced during various parts of the Board’s case. Freshwater’s ...

Day 10 of the Freshwater hearing was devoted entirely to direct and cross examination of Dr. Patricia Princehouse. Princehouse is a lecturer in philosophy and evolutionary biology at Case Western Reserve University. She has degrees in anthropology (B.S.) and biological anthropology (M.S.), and earne...

Day 8 of the hearing saw the completion of cross examination of the independent investigator Thomas Herlevi and fairly brief testimony from Joe Barone, a former student in Freshwater’s class. This will be a brief summary identifying the main lines of questions and responses. Kelly Hamilton, Freshw...

Today was the 7th day of the administrative hearing on John Freshwater’s appeal of the Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Board of Education’s decision to terminate him. You’ll recall that Freshwater is the 8th grade science teacher accused of burning crosses on students’ arms, teaching from creationist mate...

Day 6 of the Freshwater administrative hearing was on October 31, 2008. Testifying were Paul Souhrada, an editor of the Columbus Dispatch and the parent of a student in Freshwater’s class; Souhrada’s son Simon; Richard Cunningham, chairman of the high school science department; Katie Beach, a mi...

This was just posted as a comment by “laminu� to the Help Louisiana post. I’m promoting it (with some minor editing for a few typos) to a full post because it deserves wider reading. Notes from a lawyer and law teacher who’s been following this bill throughout the process: 1. About the discu...