Posted by Jack
People we just can’t make this stuff up, read on this is for real: Officials at a high school in Arlington, Massachusetts have voted to uphold their ban on students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Until recently, the school wouldn’t even allow the American flag to appear in its classrooms.
The background: When Sean Harrington arrived at Arlington High School three years ago, he noticed something peculiar — there were no American flags in the classroom and no one recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Harrington enlisted the aid of his fellow students and during his freshman year they were successful in getting flags in the classrooms. The pledge, however, will not be recited.
The school committee in Arlington, MA, defeated the 17-year-old’s request that would have allowed students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Some education leaders worried that it would be hard to find teachers willing to recite the pledge, according to a report in the Arlington Patch.
Harrington had presented school officials with a petitioned signed by 700 people along with letters of support from lawmakers like Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Joe Lieberman. The request failed to gain support on a 3-3 tie.