Wednesday, May 2, 2012

COMMENTARY: Arrogant Penn. School District Must Be Fined for Violating Pledge Law

This week, it was revealed that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the Brownsville Area School District in Pennsylvania, because a middle school student in that district was scolded and given detention for refusing to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

The 13-year-old girl refused to recite the pledge because she was upset with the way the United States was being run.

The girl's mother complained to school officials, but the district upheld the punishment at a school board meeting.

The fact is that the U.S. Supreme Court -- in a decision it made in 1943 -- ruled that public schools cannot compel students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, because doing so violates their First Amendment rights.

How could a teacher -- and a school district school board in the Brownsville area of Pennsylvania -- have been ignorant of this law, which has been in effect since 1943?

Is it because the Pennsylvania school district believes it is above the law, and does not have to abide by the laws governing America's public schools? Instead of apologizing for punishing the girl for not saluting the flag, the arrogant school board upheld the illegal punishment at a recent meeting.

Consequently, the ACLU has taken the appropriate action by filing a lawsuit against the Brownsville Area School District for violating the law that allows public school students in America the right to refuse to salute the flag as part of their First Amendment rights.

Indeed, the court should award the 13-year-old girl with a large monetary sum, paid by the Pennsylvania  school district for the punishment and humiliation she suffered in this situation -- a punishment and humiliation that never should have occurred.

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