The religious rights of teachers

I read an article that discussed a teacher wh had been fired  by the Mount Vernon school district because of accusations that he had "used a scientific device to burn a cross image onto a student's arm and of keeping a Bible on his desk." This teacher, John Freshwater, was suing the school district for $1 million, claiming that his free speech and civil rights had been violated. I was shocked by Freshwater's outrage; it seemed clear to me that not only had he abused a student by branding the individual with a religion emblem, but had also misrepresented the school's religious affiliation. Public schools are meant to be arenas in which education is the primary concern. Because of the sensitivity of religion and individuals' strong convictions surrounding religion, encorporating religion and allowing it to pervade public school systems would certainly interfere with the students' learning.

Therefore, the Mount Vernon school district's decision to terminate Freshwater's employment was certainly justified, seeing as how, in branding religious symbols on students and clearly showing his own religious convictions, he was acting as his own obstacle in being able to execute his job as purely an educator.