Is the Pledge of Allegiance still recited in US public schools?

[OneGrassRoot]

Is it a district-by-district thing, state by state, or is it a requirement that the Pledge is to be recited daily across the intercom system?

[bunkerbuster1]

1. Pretty sure it's a state ed. board thing

Here in GA, I know of no public schools that DON'T say it.

[Davis_X_Machina]

8. District or building level, more likely.

In our shop, PoA is once a week.

[noamnety]

2. We don't recite it at our school

I think we're an exception though. We just aren't that interested.

[usregimechange]

3. Yes, pretty much every where, SCOTUS throughout the Newdow case

[Obamanaut]

4. What did Scotus do "throughout the Newdow case"? n/t

[usregimechange]

20. Ha! It should read "threw out." It did so saying he lacked standing

[etherealtruth]

5. Just asked my children

They don't recite it. One in HS, one in MS ....they claim they recited it once a month in elementary.

[OneGrassRoot]

6. Teachers, administrators......

especially those in CA where the "opt out" thing seems much more prevalent than in other parts of the country (I have yet to experience it in NC), can you tell me if your school district requires a flag be flown on school grounds, as well as The Pledge to be recited?

I honestly feel that if school districts do not make Obama's speech available to students, they should stop including anything patriotic as part of the standard protocol.

Take down the flag, stop saying The Pledge.

To do otherwise is sheer hypocrisy, IMHO.

This is much bigger for some of us than a simple decision by school districts. We DO NOT want the hypocritical right-wingers who wrap themselves in the flag at every chance to claim victory by blocking a presidential speech. An apolitical, secular speech.

Yet they'll continue to wrap themselves in the flag.


Edit: Typos

[noamnety]

7. what do you mean: "blocking a speech"

I'm not sure what you're referring to.

[OneGrassRoot]

10. Here you go, this is one of several threads referring to this topic...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6446925&mesg_id=6446925

:hi:

[noamnety]

12. Thanks

I just figured out what you meant - I was off at school all day in the staff meeting without end.

We already have a freaking full orientation day planned for new students that day, with guest speakers booked and paid for in advance as well as activities where we had to rent equipment, it's a major budget item for us, and the orientation is part of our intervention strategy ... so I suspect we will not be showing his speech either at all, though I can't speak for the administration.

It's a little short sighted (and frankly pisses me off) to decide randomly that everyone in every school in the country can just drop everything with no notice. It's disrespectful to teachers - it assumes that schools aren't doing anything important at any random time. I don't know when this was announced but we only have one work day (tomorrow) between now and then, and everything's already set for Tuesday. We can't reschedule that shit at this point.

(Falls under his failure to plan isn't our crisis)

[OneGrassRoot]

15. Now, that I can understand....I hear what you're saying.

It's the uproar by parents that they don't want "their children indoctrinated in socialism" by being exposed to his speech that has me upset.

Thanks for responding. :)

[noamnety]

19. Thanks for understanding that.

We're definitely not an anti-obama school as far as our culture goes - we have a reputation for being laughingly liberal, even the staff members have anti-war, pro-obama anti-bush bumper stickers. We ran a school trip to the inauguration. So it's not that, it's just the complete disruption of the first day of school (state law prohibits us from starting before labor day). That day for us has proven to be critical for student success. It's the only day for the entire year that we have a community discussion about diversity, race issues, gender issues, sexual orientation, bullying, stereotypes, what it takes to create a safe learning space, with smaller break out sessions to reinforce and explore larger topics.

Planning for that specific day has been in the works since spring, and the schedule is so tight that we're usually negotiating way before summer over how long particular agenda items can run, down to every last minute.

I can't understand why Obama waited til the last minute to let people plan for this. And I'm surprised people think every school has the ability to broadcast this in their classrooms. We don't have a tv in each classroom. We have a couple on each floor that teachers can sign out, and we don't have a cable system - we use the tv's with dvd players. (I don't know if we can even get a signal through them with the new HDTV thing going on.)

[Ian David]

11. Be an interesting protest if the students took down the flags themselves.

If they don't support The President, they don't support America.

That's what they hammered us with for 8 years.

They even wrote school textbooks calling the years after 9/11, "The Era of American Patriotism." (Someone posted that here on DU a few years ago).

So, if they don't play PRESIDENT Obama's speech, the maybe kids should take down the flags.

[Hippo_Tron]

9. We recited it once a week during assembly

If we had been forced to recite it during Period 1 or any other time during the day, any teacher who taught during that period would've complained about the waste of class time.

[noamnety]

21. ha

We used to do it at assemblies, but no more. I think the school quietly stopped because the students who refused to say it were making a visible statement that offended parents more than us not saying it at all. And us pesky staff members supported the kids' right not to say it.

[Huskerchub]

23. 2 minutes...please

are there not daily announcements given? Is that a waste of time? We recited the pledge every day of grade school, and stood for the "call to colors" in junior and senior high...they were always followed by the daily announcements and yes 1st period was planned 10 minutes longer each and every day to make up for this.

[Hippo_Tron]

24. No, we didn't have daily announcements

And we also didn't have a flag in every single classroom.

[Chemisse]

13. Districts decide, at least in my state

The school board mandated it in the town I work in, in a burst of patriotism after 9/11.

The high school kids won't actually say it but the teachers have to lead it anyway.

[Historic NY]

14. they do it a cars shows near me..go figure.

[Peregrine]

16. Required by law in FL

and only the parent can opt out for the child, the child can't opt out on their own. Also the flag has to be a certain size which is actually a tad big for a classroom.

[LostInAnomie]

17. State law here...

... along with a moment of silence to allow students to pray quietly.

[surrealAmerican]

18. Some states require it; others don't.

In states that don't, some districts require it, others don't.

[Libertas1776]

22. Around me they still do

When I was in High School, it always pissed me off having to get up and say the pledge. But no, as far as I know, it is not law. Your child cannot be forced to say the pledge; they may ruffle some feathers and there may be some authoritative teachers and administrators that may want you to think that it is law so you will back down. But if you make a big enough stink, they'll eventually have to back down. I wish I was more learned in these areas when I was still in HS. I would have loved to have defied those pain the ass smug teachers and a certain librarian that chastised you with extreme prejudice for daring to not stand and say the pledge. Why? Does it make me any less of an American if I do not pledge allegiance to a flag, under god. The USSR and Nazi Germany had pledges of allegiance they made their children say as well. WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE ALL OUR CHILDREN OUR GOOD LITTLE CITIZENS, AFTER ALL. :sarcasm: