WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court approved a ruling last year by the Ohio Supreme Court that upheld a decision by Mount Vernon school officials to fire a middle-school teacher for not removing religious materials from his classroom. Without any comment yesterday, the U.S. justices denied an appeal from the teacher, who had claimed his constitutional rights had been violated by the Mount Vernon school board when it dismissed him in 2011.

WASHINGTON � The U.S. Supreme Court approved a ruling last year by the Ohio Supreme Court that upheld a decision by Mount Vernon school officials to fire a middle-school teacher for not removing religious materials from his classroom.

Without any comment yesterday, the U.S. justices denied an appeal from the teacher, who had claimed his constitutional rights had been violated by the Mount Vernon school board when it dismissed him in 2011.

School officials had argued that they fired John Freshwater, who taught eighth grade, for insubordination because he refused to follow an order to remove religious books and the Ten Commandments from his classroom.

Originally hired as a Mount Vernon teacher in 1987, Freshwater had received positive evaluations from his superiors. But as early as 1994, he was admonished by school officials because he distributed a pamphlet on the book of Genesis to his students.

In 2007, parents of one of Freshwater�s students complained to school officials that the teacher had used a hand-held Tesla coil to make a mark on their son�s arm that appeared to be in the shape of the cross. A Tesla coil is an electrical generator that does not produce much of an electrical shock, but can leave a mark on skin.

A year later, William White, principal of Mount Vernon Middle School, wrote to Freshwater. �It has been brought to my attention that you have a Bible out on your desk and that the �collage� on your classroom window includes the 10 Commandments.

�While you certainly may read your Bible on your own, duty-free time � it cannot be sitting out on your desk when students are in the classroom and when you are supposed to be engaged in your responsibilities as a teacher.�

Freshwater checked two religious books out of the school library and placed them in his classroom. In a written statement to school officials, Freshwater wrote that he would not remove the Bible from his classroom.

The Ohio Supreme Court concluded that Freshwater had the right to keep a Bible on his desk, ruling it was so inconspicuous that �Many students never even noticed the Bible or only realized it was in the classroom after it became a highlight of this controversy.�

But the state court ruled that Freshwater�s refusal to remove other religious materials � such as the books he had checked out of the library � demonstrated �blatant insubordination. That insubordination is established by clear and convincing evidence, and the record fully supports the board�s decision to terminate him on these grounds.�

jtorry@dispatch.com