Freshwater Case Not Quite Over

Yesterday, when I wrote about news of a settlement in the Freshwater case—the Ohio middle school teacher who used a Tesla coil to burn a cross into a student’s arm—I had said that now that the case is finally resolved, I sincerely hope this settles the whole sad sorry affair.

I guess I had written that prematurely. Turns out the case is apparently not officially settled after all.

According to an update from the National Center for Science Education:

What was approved was not the overall proposed settlement, but the terms of the settlement as it concerns Zachary Dennis (a minor)—the “James Doe” of the suit—and it was approved not by the judge presiding over the case, Gregory L. Frost of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, but by Licking County Probate Judge Robert Hoover, acting in his role as Juvenile Court Judge for the county. The settlement still needs to be approved by Judge Frost.

Sigh. Let’s hope this gets resolved soon.