Calif. student 'intimidated' into reciting Pledge of Allegiance gets apology
Source: Los Angeles Times
Compelling an atheist high school student to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance against his will was a mistake rooted in ignorance of his 1st Amendment protections, a misperception that apparently existed throughout the Oak Park Unified School District, the superintendent said.
The kerfuffle started after the ninth-grade student at Oak Park High School in Ventura County reported that he was "intimidated" by his teacher into joining his classmates for the pledge, according to the American Humanist Assn.
... "It was a mistake," Anthony Knight, superintendent of the Oak Park Unified School District, said Tuesday.
... That prompted a memo to teachers: "Compelling a student to stand or participate in any way is considered a violation of the student’s First Amendment rights to free speech and expression," Knight wrote. "There may be a commonly held misunderstanding that students can decide to refrain from saying the Pledge but can be required to stand out of respect. This is not correct."
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-student-atheist-pledge-allegiance-20141001-story.html
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