PoliticalGroove Forums - View Single Post - Three Suspended for Not Standing for Pledge of Allegiance

serum114 · 05-10-2008, 10:42 PM

Three Suspended for Not Standing for Pledge of Allegiance
By Paul Walsh
Three small-town eighth-graders in Minnesota were suspended by their principal for not standing Thursday morning for the Pledge of Allegiance, violating a district policy that the principal now says may soon be reworded to protect free speech rights.

“My son wasn’t being defiant against America,” said Kim Dahl, mother of one of the students, Brandt, who attends Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High School in northwestern Minnesota.

Brandt told the Forum newspaper in Fargo that Thursday’s one-day in-school suspension, “was kind of dumb because I didn’t do anything wrong. It should be the people’s choice.”

Kim Dahl said the “punishment didn’t fit the crime. If they wanted to know why he didn’t stand, they should’ve made him write a paper.” She said her son has been declining to stand all school year, offered no reason for sitting and was not obligated to explain his actions.

The school’s handbook says all students are required to stand but are not required to recite the pledge. The same is true for all four schools in the district, a school official said.

“These three [students] didn’t, and they got caught,” said Mel Olson, the district’s community education director. He said he backs the punishment, “being a veteran and a United States of America citizen, absolutely.” Olson served in the Marines in Japan during the Vietnam War.

The head of the Minnesota American Civil Liberties Union said that the school’s actions against the students are unconstitutional, and his office informed the district of that today in a strongly worded letter.

“The school can’t do that; that’s illegal,” said Chuck Samuelson, the civil liberties group’s executive director. “Wow.”

Samuelson said that numerous U.S. Supreme Court rulings dating to the 1940s say in “well-settled constitutional law” that “students who refuse to participate in the pledge cannot be punished for refusing to participate.”

05-10-2008, 10:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
serum114 Tonight? We make soap Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: In the garage with my bullshit detector Posts: 2,560 Thanks: 309 Thanked 593 Times in 336 Posts Nominated 36 Times in 9 Posts TOTW/F/M Award(s): 5	Three Suspended for Not Standing for Pledge of Allegiance Three Suspended for Not Standing for Pledge of Allegiance By Paul Walsh Three small-town eighth-graders in Minnesota were suspended by their principal for not standing Thursday morning for the Pledge of Allegiance, violating a district policy that the principal now says may soon be reworded to protect free speech rights. “My son wasn’t being defiant against America,” said Kim Dahl, mother of one of the students, Brandt, who attends Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High School in northwestern Minnesota. Brandt told the Forum newspaper in Fargo that Thursday’s one-day in-school suspension, “was kind of dumb because I didn’t do anything wrong. It should be the people’s choice.” Kim Dahl said the “punishment didn’t fit the crime. If they wanted to know why he didn’t stand, they should’ve made him write a paper.” She said her son has been declining to stand all school year, offered no reason for sitting and was not obligated to explain his actions. The school’s handbook says all students are required to stand but are not required to recite the pledge. The same is true for all four schools in the district, a school official said. “These three [students] didn’t, and they got caught,” said Mel Olson, the district’s community education director. He said he backs the punishment, “being a veteran and a United States of America citizen, absolutely.” Olson served in the Marines in Japan during the Vietnam War. The head of the Minnesota American Civil Liberties Union said that the school’s actions against the students are unconstitutional, and his office informed the district of that today in a strongly worded letter. “The school can’t do that; that’s illegal,” said Chuck Samuelson, the civil liberties group’s executive director. “Wow.” Samuelson said that numerous U.S. Supreme Court rulings dating to the 1940s say in “well-settled constitutional law” that “students who refuse to participate in the pledge cannot be punished for refusing to participate.” __________________ The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. Hunter S. Thompson "The bad news is, the aliens have landed. The good news is, they eat Mormons and piss gasoline!" Utah Phillips
	Top