(CNN) -- School administrators in Ohio voted Friday to begin the process of firing a middle school teacher accused of burning a cross into a student's arm and refusing to keep his religious beliefs out of the classroom.

A middle school student in Ohio says his teacher branded a cross on his arm.

The Mount Vernon School Board passed a resolution to terminate the employment of John Freshwater, an eighth-grade science teacher for the past 21 years.

Freshwater, according to an independent report, used an electrostatic device to mark a cross on the arm of one of his students, causing pain to the student the night of the incident and leaving a mark that lasted for approximately three weeks.

According to the Ohio Department of Education, the student's family has filed a lawsuit.

Freshwater was also reprimanded several times for refusing to move his Bible from his classroom desk and teaching creationism alongside evolution, according to the 15-page independent report. The report also cites evidence that Mr. Freshwater told his students that "science is wrong because the Bible states that homosexuality is a sin and so anyone who is gay chooses to be gay and is therefore a sinner."

The Board of Education of the Mount Vernon City School District met in special session Friday to address the case.

Freshwater has the option to contest the process by requesting a formal hearing before the Board of Education. Neither Freshwater nor his attorney could be reached by CNN for comment.

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I don't understand how a guy like that teaches for years without anyone realizing he's a dangerous religious fanatic. Someone had to notice.

This post was last modified: Jun 21, 2008 08:02 AM by 8 Ball.

What a nut job. I agree 8 ball. This couldn't have been the first incident.

Well.He was doing pretty good until he burned a cross on the arm of a student.Maybe they will hire gay atheist teachers to take up the slack. I bet CNN makes few reports on atheist nuts.Knowing the owner of CNN is one himself.

They did say the report was 15 pages long.

There is no way, based on that teacher's actions that day, that there weren't numerous incidents. It takes a lot to fire a teacher. They have to either physically or sexually assault a child it seems for any immediate action to be taken. Maybe they didn't mess with that teacher because they were afraid the teacher would claim he was being discriminated against based on religion.