Posted on 11/15/2008 7:32:55 PM PST by george76
No one's sure when daily recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance fell by the wayside at Woodbury Elementary School.
But efforts to restore them have erupted into a bitter dispute in this tiny (pop. 810) Vermont town, with school officials blocking the exercise from classrooms amid concerns that it holds nonparticipating children up to scorn.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
The prinicpal is one of these "zero-tolerance, no-victim" types. Can't do anything that might make someone feel bad or violate their right from being offended. Donchano!
That’s okay. pretty soon they will be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the Lord Obama.
Yeah, well, it’s Vermont.
be interesting to see whether comrade obamao puts his hand over his heart during pledges to our flag.
time to cut off all federal and state aid
Well . . . this Principal's behavior makes me feel bad and it violates my right to not be offended.
We are becoming a nation of spineless, irresponsible idiots.
Yeah, well, it’s Vermont.
Yep, way up towards the northeast kingdom of vermont. It’s kind of backwards/backwoods up there.
Isn't that waste of human skin, Bernie "Castro" Sanders from Vermont?
Every dollar spent on public education is money down a rat hole.
the principal may have studied under Professor Ayers.
social justice middle school
http://www.homeofheroes.com/hallofheroes/1st_floor/flag/1bfc_pledge.html
The
Pledge of Allegiance
pledge_large.jpg (166575 bytes)
On September 8, 1892 a Boston-based youth magazine “The Youth’s Companion” published a 22-word recitation for school children to use during planned activities the following month to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America. Under the title “The Pledge to the Flag”, the composition was the earliest version of what we now know as the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The October 12, 1892 Columbus Day celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the discovery of America was planned for years in advance, and anticipated much as modern Americans look forward to and plan for the advent of a new century. The United States had recovered from most of the effects of its Civil War that began 30 years earlier, and people from around the world were flocking to the “Land of Opportunity”. The previous year almost a half million immigrants had entered the United States through the Barge Office in Battery Park, New York and on New Years day of 1892 the new Federal Bureau of Receiving’s station at Ellis Island had opened.
Two men interested in both education and planned Columbus Day celebrations around our Nation’s 44 states were Francis Bellamy and James Upham. To this day it is still unknown which of the two men actually authored the words that were to become the Pledge of Allegiance. It was published anonymously and not copyrighted. James Upham was an employee of the Boston publishing firm that produced “The Youth’s Companion” in which it first appeared. Francis Bellamy was an educator who served as chairman of the National committee of educators and civic leaders who were planning the Columbus Day activities. What we do know for certain is that the words first appeared in the September 8, 1892 issue of “The Youth’s Companion”, and a month later more than 12 million school children recited the words for the first time in schools across the nation. Our Pledge of Allegiance was born, but like anything new, it took many years to “reach maturity”, and underwent several changes along the way. That first Pledge of Allegiance read:
I pledge allegiance to my Flag,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
October 11, 1892
After the Columbus Day celebration the Pledge to the Flag became a popular daily routine in America’s public schools, but gained little attention elsewhere for almost 25 years. Finally, on Flag Day - June 14, 1923, the Pledge received major attention from adults who had gathered for the first National Flag Conference in Washington, D.C. Here their Conference agenda took note of the wording in the Pledge. There was concern that, with the number of immigrants now living in the United States, there might be some confusion when the words “My Flag” were recited. To correct this the pledge was altered to read:
I pledge allegiance to my the
Flag of the United States,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
June 14, 1923
The following year the wording was changed again to read:
I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
June 14, 1924
The Pledge of Allegiance continued to be recited daily by children in schools across America, and gained heightened popularity among adults during the patriotic fervor created by World War II. It still was an “unofficial” pledge until June 22, 1942 when the United States Congress included the Pledge to the Flag in the United States Flag Code (Title 36). This was the first Official sanction given to the words that had been recited each day by children for almost fifty years. One year after receiving this official sanction, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school children could not be forced to recite the Pledge as part of their daily routine. In 1945 the Pledge to the Flag received its official title as:
The Pledge of Allegiance
The last change in the Pledge of Allegiance occurred on June 14 (Flag Day), 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved adding the words “under God”. As he authorized this change he said:
“In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”
This was the last change made to the Pledge of Allegiance. The 23 words what had been initially penned for a Columbus Day celebration now comprised a Thirty-one profession of loyalty and devotion to not only a flag, but to a way of life....the American ideal. Those words now read:
flag2.gif (8316 bytes)
I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation under God, indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
June 14, 1954
In 1892, 1923, 1924 and 1954 the American people demonstrated enough concern about the actual words in the Pledge to make some necessary changes. Today there may be a tendency among many Americans to recite “by rote” with little thought for the words themselves. Before continuing with our tour, let’s examine these 31 words a little more thoroughly.
(see website for rest)
Thus it is that when you Pledge Allegiance to the United States Flag, You:
*Promise your loyalty to the Flag itself.
*Promise your loyalty to your own and the other 49 States.
*Promise your loyalty to the Government that unites us all,
Recognizing that we are ONE Nation under God,
That we can not or should not be divided or alone,
And understanding the right to Liberty and Justice belongs to ALL of us.
They say the Pledge in Vermont?
You shouldn't we. It is too many lame brain idiots. I don't count myself among them.
Looking at the country as a whole (hole).
Actually, we live fairly close to Woodbury. It’s beautiful country, and pretty civilized except for all that silly liberalism.
The problem is that so many hippies moved up to Vermont when the fashion was to get back to nature.
http://www.virtualvermont.com/towns/woodbury.html
Saying the Pledge in the classroom is legal, convenient and traditional
I'll give you that. But I look at it as an individual as I'm sure you do.
A child has political reasons? More likely it is the old hippie faculty who thinks it's cool to hate their own country.
I know that there’s schools around that make the kids say the pledge and put their hands on their hearts. All the teachers and support staff do it where ever they are. They even stop in the doorway of the nearest classrooms when they announce time for the pledge if they are in the halls.
There are still public schools out there that do things like this right.
I’m familiar with the area, havent spent a lot of time in Stowe, Mad River Valley, and driving all over the area. Have flown into Burlington a bunch of times, and have taken the scenic trip up and down route 100 more times than i can count.Been to cabot and Jay Peak, too.
I actually like northern Vermont a lot- it’s beautiful up there.
How the hell can one be in this country and be nonparticipating?
When did “We the PEOPLE” lose control?
grrrrrr.
This made me pretty angry.
But I live in a small town that decks itself out with flags for every occasion, the kids pray in front of the school every day...and mixed with the muzak in the grocery store are very patriotic songs.
Are there some that don't love this country? Were they told by their parents not to participate? Does their allegiance lie elsewhere?
Perhaps these same children can elect not to participate in Math or English. We can't make them. Let's not participate in History either.
Aren't we the grown-ups? We are tasked to imbue our young'uns with proper values and skills. They need to participate.
If they can't participate, they need to explain to whose allegiance they pledge. If they came here from some other country, and they are still pledged to that country, why are they here?
Rahm Emmanuel thinks it will bring cohesion to the country by mandating compulsory community service (Barry has the same idea)>
In my feeble mind, back in the day...when all of us children in a classroom, from kindergarten to senior in high school, said that pledge together, it brought voluntary cohesion. I must be showing my age.
The communists and their young hippie followers targetted Vermont in the mid-70’s as the place to takeover due to the town-council political structures. Their infiltration and propagandizing have paid off handsomely.
Isn’t Ben and Jerry’s Comradely ice-cream from Vermont?
To many stories and too many bad trends.
Ours have the pledge, the school motto, and a moment of silence. :)
(How’s life?)
Me too....I also loved Vermont and wanted to buy a house in Bennington County.....now I’m having second thoughts.....We’ll just stick to a visit once in a while.
I say we give Vermont to Canada. We've got 57 states in this great nation of ours. We can afford to lose one!
No doubt here in California we are going to be teaching kindergarteners about the wonders of engaging in homosexual acts and I doubt if even that will motivate people to take their kids out.
Stop whining people and do something! The government schools get their funding based on attendance. Take your kids out and cause the funding to dry up.
Oh, I agree. I’m just saying that Woodbury is a civilized and beautiful town. It’s a pity that people who are otherwise decent for the most part are crazed on the subject of politics. If I lived there, I’d be arguing for the pledge, but I’m afraid I’m a very small minority around here.
We’ll be seeing more of this. Obama skipped the Pledge and the National Anthem at many of his rallies and substituted his Hitler rally stuff. In any case, our local school has the pledge still.
I can't speak for anyone else. But I will never bow to Obama or anyone for that matter.
About half the students chose to participate, according to Martin.
Tedesco, 55, a retired U.S. Marine Corps major, and others who signed his petitions didn't like that solution
Geez, some people are never satisfied. I guess that since the Marines don't put up with whining, he had years of it backlogged and it's all spilling out now.
A pair of Socialists, as I recall.
I didn’t know it was that high.
I am a parent of a 1st grader at Woodbury School. The pledge is NOT banned from the classroom! The way our students say the pledge right now is a wonderful sight to behold.
At 7:55 AM 95% of the 50+ students (k-6) join together as a community. A sixth grader is honored by reading the day’s announcements to the assembled group and then leads the entire school in saying the Pledge. I counted only 7 children on Monday that did not partake in saying the pledge, some of those kids are Jehovahs and some are abstaining, this is as it should be in our great nation.
For the last ten years, our school only said the pledge once a week, at the school-wide assembly on Wednesdays. Late last school year, the pledge was accidentally left out of that meeting, no one can say exactly when, but it was NOT intentional. At the start of this year, one parent wanted to make sure it was not forgotten, but he did not follow established procedure. He had a brief phone call with the principal and she made sure it was said at the weekly meeting. But this one parent decided he was not satisfied, so instead of going through the proper channels, he jumped right to the last step and created a petition calling for the pledge to be said 5 days a week.
Out of 600+ registered voters and 800+ residents in the town he collected 310 signatures, a respectable amount. After he submitted his petition to the school, the staff and the board decided to honor his request. At first, they extended the existing procedure, to assemble all the students in the Auditorium/Cafeteria on the top floor, just like they do for the Wednesday meeting. After a week of this it was realized that this was impractical and the school staff changed the procedure to assemble the students just outside their classrooms in the foyer. The staff’s primary thought was to keep the students together as a whole community, NOT to ‘ban them from the classroom’!
At least 20 of the other parents that I have talked to that DID sign the petition are satisfied with this communal recitation led by an older student. It recalls to use our old one-room school houses where the older students helped teach the young ones. The sixth grader’s, incidentally, also have a ceremony to take down the exterior flag at the end of the school day and they properly carry the flag into their classroom to fold it correctly.
This is all as it should be.
But this one parent that started the petition refuses to stop, even though he told me directly that he personally would be happy with only one day a week! He is still out there, trying to split our students and teachers and parents apart.
Last Friday he led an angry group of Woodbury residents (only ONE had a student at the school) inside the school and they started shouting about how the students gathering together and being led by a sixth grader was a ‘disgrace’ and how the principal was disrespecting the pledge! When they were asked to leave for being disruptive, they initially refused. Only after the principal insisted did they go outside. They stayed right outside the front door and harassed the School Board chair for 45 minutes! And the school board chair is a Christian home-school advocate that supports saying the pledge!
Students inside the school actually asked their teachers if they and the principal were safe from the angry mob right outside their window! The school staff and students are TERRIFIED of this man now.
Yesterday Fox News ran a story full of lies claiming that we have ‘banned the pledge’ and ‘banned God’ from our classrooms. They KNOW it’s false, one of the parents quoted in the AP article last Friday very clearly informed the Fox producer who called her exactly what is the real situation here. Just this morning Fox had a segment on our school and had the petitioner and one of the signers on live, nationwide. Yet the host wouldn’t let the other guy get his point across, which is this: He signed the petition asking for the pledge to be said 5 days a week, and now it is and he’s happy with it. The Fox host (I think it was Doocey) interrupted him and wouldn’t let him finish his thought!
Starting last Friday, our school and some parents and school board members have been getting phone calls from crazy people all over America calling us Communists, saying we should all be rounded up and deported. Our school secretary has been cussed out over the phone several times a day from Conservatives screaming at her, calling her names and such. That has got to stop!
This is a NON ISSUE, folks! There is NO policy to prevent students from saying the pledge inside the classrooms! We, The People, WANT our kids saying it together as a group.
are we now allowed to post AP articles on the FR??
yes
only short excerpts
Mine went to a private school and a private religious college, and both required community service as part of the ethic of the schools. To me, that's the only type of requirement that should be made. When gubmint starts to do it, it's coercion and it violates freedom of conscience that should belong to families and religious groups.
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