The Plege of Allegiance

I Pledge Allegiance To The Flag
By Richard Olivastro
November 17, 2008

Vermont is at it again.

This time, residents of the Town of Woodbury - approximately 700 adults - are quarreling over 'how and where' students at the local Elementary School should recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

First some background, followed by some legal history, en-route to what may be the underlying story.

It seems that "No one's sure when daily recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance fell by the wayside" at Woodbury's 19th-century schoolhouse, which has 55 students in four classrooms covering grades K-6.

In September, parent Ted Tedesco, took the initiative and "... began circulating petitions calling for its return as a daily practice". Officials agreed to resume the daily pledge, but "not in the classroom". Supporters of the Pledge say the classroom is the place for it; but school officials would not accept parental input and choice in the matter.

Beginning last week, "a sixth grade student was assigned to go around to the four classrooms before classes started, gathering up anyone who wanted to say it and then walking them up creaky wooden steps to a second-floor gymnasium, where he led them in the pledge".

The rationale offered by elementary school principal, Michaela Martin, "We don't want to isolate children every day in their own classroom, or make them feel they're different."

Tedesco, and other parents who signed the petitions, didn't like that solution. They say it is "disruptive to routine and inappropriate because it put young children in the position of having to decide between pre-class play time and leaving the classroom to say the Pledge".

Tedesco added, "Saying the Pledge in the classroom is legal, convenient and traditional. Asking kindergarten through sixth graders who want to say the Pledge to leave their classrooms to do so is neither convenient nor traditional."

He's right.

And, it may - or should - be illegal, to require schoolchildren who wish to recite the Pledge to have to leave their classroom to do so.

Then, last Friday, the venue was changed again by Principal Michaela Martin, with school board chair Retta Dunlap in attendance.

"Just before 8 a.m., the principal herded all the school's students -- and a handful of adults -- into a cramped foyer that adjoins the first-floor classrooms and told sixth-grader Nathan Gilbert, 12, to lead them in the Pledge."

Following that exercise, "10 adults streamed... outside, forming a circle around Dunlap for a heated discussion in which they pressed for an explanation of why it couldn't be said in the classrooms".

Board Chair Dunlap told the parents "the format is up to teachers, not administrators or parents".

"The children will get used to it, and they'll know what's expected of them," she added.

H'mm.

Later, Principal Martin said "the point of having the whole school gather for the Pledge was to protect children who don't participate in it. If you're in a classroom with 15 students and you choose not to say the Pledge, it's much more obvious than a group setting. When they're saying it in a group of 55, it may not be so obvious. We don't want to isolate children".

In 1943, the United States Supreme Court ruled that "schoolchildren can opt out of reciting the pledge for religious reasons". In other words, schools were no longer able to compel students to recite the pledge or salute the flag, although they could continue to ask them to do so, on a voluntary basis.

Nothing has changed regarding that ruling over the last 65 years. Schools can continue to recite the Pledge every day and the teacher can invite every student to participate.

Four years ago, atheist Michael Newdow sued because he objected to this daughter having to 'listen' to the words "under God" in the teacher-led recitation of the pledge. The Supreme Court ruled against Newdow. That ruling sustains the permission to practice reciting the Pledge 'in the classroom'.

By now, you likely have figured out the 'story underneath the story':

Woodbury Elementary School needs either a handful of teachers willing to lead the Pledge each day within their respective classrooms: or, a principal who will get out of their way and let the teachers lead the Pledge.

As Justice Felix Frankfurter explained, "National unity is the basis of national security. The flag is a symbol of our national unity".

Now, perhaps, more than ever, our country needs the Pledge of Allegiance.

For all American Citizens: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

---

Richard Olivastro is a professional member of the National Speakers Association, president of Olivastro Communications - an executive leadership development company - and founder of Citizens For Change.