FILE - In this April 16, 2008 file photo, John Freshwater, center, addresses a crowd on Mount Vernon's public square in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The Ohio Supreme Court is ready to hear arguments in the case of Freshwater, a fired public school science teacher who kept a bible on his desk and was accused of preaching religious beliefs in class. (AP Photo/Mount Vernon News, Pam Schehl, File)
The attorney for ex-teacher John Freshwater says such accounts are exaggerated and that Freshwater was simply exercising his academic freedom to explore controversial ideas.
Attorneys for Freshwater and the Mount Vernon School Board have left the Ohio Supreme Court with competing accounts on whether the teacher unconstitutionally inserted his personal religious beliefs into the classroom.
Justices sparred with both lawyers during hour-long oral arguments Wednesday.
Freshwater was dismissed in 2011 after investigators reported he preached Christian beliefs in class when discussing topics such as evolution and homosexuality and was insubordinate in failing to remove the Bible from his classroom.
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