Rebuttal Witnesses Testify About Documents in Freshwater Hearing

The following testimonies took place 3:31 p.m.—4:41 p.m. on 6/07/10.

Mount Vernon Board of Education attorney David Millstone brought two experts as rebuttal witnesses to testify about documents in the John Freshwater hearing.

Harold F Rodin

Harold F. Rodin, a certified questioned documents examiner, said that the handwriting at the top of the school board’s exhibit number 91— “Reaching for the Sky”—was made by Freshwater.

Rodin based his conclusion on what he said were similarities between several of the letters in the document questioned and in the sample of Freshwater’s handwriting he was given.

The magazine article “Reaching for the Sky” was published in 1988 in Science World. The writing on the document contained references to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel.

Rodin admitted that he did not examine the original document that had the handwriting. He said that when an original is available it is preferred but is not necessary.

The original of the article was found in storage after an anonymous tipster sent a letter to Freshwater. No writing, however, was on the top of the article.

When Freshwater and his attorney, R. Kelly Hamilton, were able to review the storage room full of stuff, earlier this year, they found multiple copies of the article. Those copies—except for a photocopy that was already labeled “Bd 91”—did not contain the writing at the top.

(Multiple copies of the article, minus the handwriting, were found with Freshwater’s classroom stuff.)

For more information, see the section “Reaching for the Sky” in the article “John Freshwater Testifies About ‘Truckload’ of Information.”

Rodin said that he could not tell whether the document was used in the public school classroom.

John Liptak

John Liptak, a computer forensic expert, testified about the authenticity of several emails.

One of the emails—school board exhibit number 22—had been described by a previous witness, Ricky Warren, as looking like it was altered.

The email was a reply by Warren to an email sent through Freshwater’s account. The content of the email is about Warren coming to speak at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting. Freshwater’s daughter, Jordan, previously testified that she was the one who invited Warren to speak at FCA.

Liptak said that he observed a local IT person restore a November 2009 backup of the school’s email system. He said he then took a copy back to his lab and examined the data.

Liptak said that he found a copy of Warren’s email within Freshwater’s account that matched that of the copy used as an exhibit in the hearing.

(A copy of the email was found among Freshwater’s classroom stuff already labeled as “BOARD EXHIBIT – 22.”)

Upon questioning from Hamilton, Liptak said that the electronic copy does not have a three-hole punch along the left margin.

Liptak said that his company probably also obtained a copy of the hard drive on Freshwater’s classroom computer but that he was not involved in that task.

Liptak said that he did not examine who had access to Freshwater’s account.

Former Assistant Principal Testifies about Photos of Freshwater’s Classroom and Lab

The following testimony took place 2:10 p.m.—2:46 p.m. on 6/07/10.

The pictures taken of John Freshwater’s classroom and lab focused on potentially religious items. “I could have taken more pictures, but I wasn’t asked to document everything in his classroom,” said Brad Ritchey, former Mount Vernon Middle School assistant principal.

Ritchey said areas he did not photograph “were not as concerning.”

Ritchey photographed the Bible on Freshwater’s desk, the poster of George Bush and Colin Powell, the Ten Commandment poster, a Cross Club sign, the “Good Thinking and Ten Commandment” book covers and several small posters in the lab area.

Ritchey was brought to the hearing as a rebuttal witness by school board attorney David Millstone.

An expert witness, Michael Molnar, previously testified that the items in Freshwater’s classroom were not part of a “religious display.”

Posters in lab area

There were 14 lab stations with two doors above each one—on the doors were posters about the size of oversized index cards.

Principal Bill White previously testified that there were verses written below the statements on the posters. “There were papers posted around on the cupboards that had what I would refer to as study skills or those types of things at the top,” White said, “and then at the bottom there was a biblical verse and reference that went with each one of them.”

Pictures were not taken of all of the lab stations.

Ritchey testified that, as best as he can recall, not all of the lab posters had Bible verses.

The only close-up photo that Ritchey took was of a poster that did have a Bible verse but, Ritchey said, he thought there was more than one poster like that.

Freshwater’s attorney, R. Kelly Hamilton, showed Ritchey a photo sent to Freshwater by the anonymous tipster.

In the photo—according to Freshwater’s previous testimony—is one of the posters Freshwater had in the lab area. In large print is the statement, "You can build a throne with bayonets but you can't sit on it for long." Below that in smaller print is, “‘What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.’ Confucius.”

(A photo provided by the anonymous tipster to Freshwater.)

Ritchey agreed that the poster in the photo might be the type of thing that was on the rest of the posters.

Freshwater previously testified that the original of the lab poster, as well as the other lab posters, has yet to be found. The posters were not located among the items discovered in the storage room at the school district’s central offices.

Ritchey said that he believes the items that were in Freshwater’s classroom were “unlawful.”

Fellowship of Christian Athletes

Ritchey said that he was in a meeting with White and Freshwater regarding the student club Fellowship of Christian Athletes. According to Ritchey, Freshwater raised his hands during the meeting and told them that he might have done the same during FCA.

Ritchey said that Freshwater did not mention anything about having said “amen” so that the FCA students could go on to class.

(For Freshwater’s side of the story, see the section titled “Fellowship of Christian Athletes/Alleged exorcism” in the article “John Freshwater: Investigation Didn’t Follow Contract.” )

Ritchey did attend a few of the FCA meetings but did not see a problem with Freshwater’s handling of his role of monitor. He said that he never spoke with the pastor or the students that were at the meeting in which student Zachary Dennis said Freshwater raised his hands and prayed.

Tesla coil

Ritchey said that he and White did have the authority to write the January 22, 2008 letter to Freshwater regarding the Tesla coil.

During the meeting he was at with Freshwater, White did not direct Freshwater to destroy the Tesla coil, Ritchey said.

Ritchey also said had there been an allegation of a student’s arm being held down during the Tesla coil demonstration he would have remembered such a claim.

Ritchey said that he did not remember taking any notes of the meetings with Freshwater.

Secret Audio Recordings: Former School Board Member Talks about John Freshwater Controversy

The following testimony took place 12:25 p.m.—2:05 p.m. on 6/07/10.

Steve Hughes, a former Mount Vernon Board of Education member, spoke with John Freshwater in January in two conversations that were secretly recorded by Freshwater.

A copy of the recordings, and a transcript made by Freshwater, were submitted as exhibits in the hearing that is taking place before a referee. Hughes was brought to the hearing to testify about the content of his conversations with Freshwater and his knowledge of the matters related to the charges brought against Freshwater by the school board in 2008.

(Hughes in 2009 at a meeting of the school board.)

Secret audio recordings

Prior to the recorded conversations, Hughes and Freshwater had occasion to speak briefly when Hughes purchased apples and then later a Christmas tree from Freshwater.

Five days before the January 19 recordings, Hughes spoke with Freshwater’s attorney R. Kelly Hamilton. Hughes said he happened to meet Hamilton near the Knox County Service Center where Freshwater’s hearing was taking place that day.

The first recorded conversation took place outside Hughes’s law office. The second conversation took place that evening over the phone.

The school board’s attorney, David Millstone, frequently objected to questions that Hamilton asked Hughes. The concern that Millstone raised was that some of the content in the recorded conversations dealt with matters covered by attorney client privilege, confidentiality agreements and executive session rules.

One of the questions Millstone objected to concerned why Hughes said that he had “wanted to get rid of Millstone from the very beginning” and that he was “not happy with the way [Millstone] is handling” the Freshwater matter.

The referee upheld the objection.

Insubordination

Hughes stated in one of the recorded conversations that if the school board wanted to fire Freshwater based on insubordination that “it still has to be refusing to obey a legitimate and reasonable order.”

Hughes said in the hearing that his statement was based on his limited experience with employment law.

Religious display

It could be a lawful order for an administrator to tell a teacher to remove his or her Bible, Hughes said. The individual circumstances, Hughes said, would determine whether the Bible was part of a religious display and needed to be removed.

Hughes said that a singular Bible on a desk does not make it a religious display.

Hamilton asked Hughes if having the “Good Thinking and Ten Commandments” book covers placed over an interior window, for security reasons, was lawful.

Hughes said in that context, alone, the book covers have a legitimate purpose.

School board’s 2008 resolution

Hughes said that when he voted for the 2008 resolution “Intent to consider the termination of the teaching contract(s) of John Freshwater” he didn’t know Freshwater’s side of the story.

Between Hughes’ statements in one of the recorded conversations and his testimony in the hearing, the reason Hughes voted for the resolution was apparently so that Freshwater’s side of the story could be brought out during the hearing.

Hughes said that he did understand that if there had been no resolution that there would have been no need of a hearing.

The school board did base their resolution on the investigative report done by H.R. On Call, Hughes said.

In one of the recorded conversations, Hughes gave his understanding of how the insurance industry works: “the whole idea is to […] starve them out, to postpone the case, make it last as long as possible.”

Hughes testified that he used to be employed by an insurance company.

Hughes said that he didn’t know why Freshwater was suspended without pay. He did not recall any others teachers within the school district being suspended without pay.

Anonymous tipster

Hughes said that he has no knowledge of who the anonymous tipster is. He also said that he never communicated with Freshwater by anonymous letter.

Hughes said that he is not aware of any stuff from Freshwater’s classroom being stored anywhere in the school district.

Legal fees

In one of the recorded conversations, Hughes said that the school board does not know how much Millstone is charging them per hour. “All we know is we get a statement that says the total number of hours and what the bill is, but doesn’t say who did what,” Hughes said.


Millstone did not cross examine Hughes.