Student who objected to Pledge of Allegiance gives his reasons

By: Bill Freehling - December 26th, 2004
The Free Lance-Star [www.fredericksburg.com]

The parents of a 12-year-old who sparked a likely change to Spotsylvania County's Pledge of Allegiance policy describe him as a "civil rights case waiting to happen."

The seventh-grader has tried to hand out brochures in school protesting the treatment of animals at circuses. He sometimes wears a black shirt with white letters that say "Free Speech."

He supported Ralph Nader and mostly reads in his free time. He's been studying Genghis Khan and wants to become a professor of East Asian studies.

But for now his crusade involves the Pledge of Allegiance.

Since July 1, 2002, Spotsylvania public school students have been required to stand, right hands over hearts, for the pledge at the start of each school day. The county's policy doesn't require students to recite the words.

But it doesn't let objecting students sit through it, even though Virginia law says they can.

The boy said he thinks being forced to stand and salute is a compelled act of patriotism that violates his First Amendment right to free speech. He wants to be allowed to sit to show he doesn't agree with what the pledge represents.

The child and his parents spoke to The Free Lance-Star on condition of anonymity. They say they fear reprisals, but might soon publicly reveal their identities.

The family moved to Spotsylvania County from Maryland at the end of the boy's second-grade year. He said he voluntarily stood and said the pledge until last fall.

The boy said he objects to U.S. government policies, including the Patriot Act and the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He thinks the flag represents corporate greed and civil rights abuses.

"There's just a laundry list of problems," he said.

The boy said his objection to the pledge isn't related to a common complaint--that the phrase "under God" violates the principle of a separation between church and state. He also doesn't have a problem with the pledge being recited every day, as long as students can choose to sit.

His parents said they'll defend his rights as long as he is respectful and polite during the pledge. They said his decision not to stand is solely his own, and that they don't necessarily agree with it.

The father said he would stand for the pledge, as he has seen more of the country's history and knows that there are peaks and valleys. The mother isn't sure she would stand now. At first she would have, but is starting to come around to her son's opinion. But both agree he has the right to dissent.

For the past year, the Ni River Middle School student said he's quietly sat and read at his desk during the pledge. He said his homeroom teachers didn't object.

This fall, he got into a discussion with his civics teacher. The teacher said students had to stand for the pledge; the boy disagreed.

Vice Principal Michael Smith told the child he had to stand and could be suspended if he refused, according to Smith and the boy.

The Web site of the American Civil Liberties Union informed the boy that he should be allowed to sit.

The boy's father, a retired attorney who practiced administrative law for the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Science Foundation, read Virginia's code and later compared it with Spotsylvania's policy. They didn't match.

Virginia legislators required a daily pledge with a bill passed in 2001. Students objecting on religious, philosophical or other grounds--or whose parents object--could sit or stand if they were quiet and respectful.

The Virginia Department of Education sent a memo to division superintendents outlining the new law and a history of court rulings on the pledge.

Other Fredericksburg-area school districts--including the city and Culpeper, Orange, King George, Caroline and Stafford counties--wrote policies allowing students to sit.

The language in Spotsylvania's policy closely resembles state code. But Spotsylvania's policy says nothing about letting objectors sit.

The boy's father sent a letter to Ni River officials pointing out that state code allows students to sit. Superintendent Jerry Hill consulted the School Board's attorney and was told Spotsylvania's policy was illegal.

Spotsylvania didn't intend to break the law, said Martin Wilder and Lee Broughton, both of whom were on the School Board when the policy was approved in 2002. Neither recalls discussion of the matter; they said staff drafted it, and they passed it with little fanfare.

James Meyer, Spotsylvania's assistant superintendent of administration, said it was an unintentional oversight. He said nobody questioned the policy until this recent situation.

Administrators recommended that the School Board vote to change the policy at its Dec. 13 meeting. A written notice to board members said teachers who forced students to stand misinterpreted the policy's intent.

The boy's parents don't believe it was a mistake, saying the state code and the education department's memo are clear. They say the board tried to exert its conservative will and at the very least was negligent.

"I just find it hard to believe that this just slipped by," his father said. "The only conclusion that you can draw is that it was intentional."

At its Dec. 13 meeting, the School Board voted 6-1 to change the policy and allow objecting students to sit.

Ray Lora voted against it. He has three sons in the U.S. Army--including one serving in Iraq who survived Tuesday's deadly attack on a Mosul dining hall--and is an Army vet himself.

"How can I say to my son in Iraq that I voted to allow people to sit while the Pledge of Allegiance is said?" Lora said.

Lora doesn't mind students standing silently, but he said it's disrespectful to sit. He wants to change the state law.

"Some things are worth fighting for," he said.

Lora said he received lots of supportive e-mails and phone calls after news broke of his vote. He plans to vote the same way at the board's next meeting, Jan. 10.

As with all policy, the School Board must vote twice before a change is official.

The boy's parents want a written apology from the School Board even if it changes the policy. They're not upset at Ni River officials for enforcing the rules.

The father said he plans to pursue litigation if Spotsylvania doesn't change its policy--or if the state switches its rules to match the county's. He's confident he'd win the case.

So is Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia.

"There's a slam-dunk constitutional First Amendment right to sit during the Pledge of Allegiance that trumps state law," Willis said.

John Whitehead agrees. Whitehead is president of The Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville-based group that provides legal services in defense of religious and civil liberties and often doesn't agree with the ACLU.

"What makes this country great," Whitehead said, "is that we respect the right to dissent.

"If we don't have the right to dissentthen we don't have a democracy."

For now, the child is allowed to sit. He said he reads quietly during the pledge and isn't affected by peer pressure. He said classmates have called him anti-American and told him he supports Osama bin Laden. But he said most recognize his constitutional right to object.

"He's an evil communist," the boy quoted classmates as saying about him. "But he has a point."

The boy said he'll stand up if he starts agreeing with the American government. He's not optimistic that'll happen during the Bush years, but maybe by 2009.

"I hope in 12th grade he's standing for the pledge," his father said. "Because he wants to, not because he has to."

Copyright The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co. of Fredericksburg, Va.

Posted by: evilsaltine || Last Modified: Sunday, December 26th, 2004