A newly proposed bill in Alabama would require all public schools to have the Pledge of Allegiance recited every morning.
House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican and the creator of the legislation, said he found out last year that one of his grandchildren, a fifth grader, didn’t know the pledge.
Despite an Alabama Board of Education requirement, the child’s school was not having students recite the pledge every morning, Ledbetter told AL.com.
The situation prompted Ledbetter to file House Bill 339, which would make it state law to require every school to start the day with the pledge instead of having the authority for the requirement sit with the state school board.
House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said he was surprised last year to find that one of his grandchildren, a fifth-grader at the time, didn’t know the Pledge of Allegiance.
Alabama bill would require Pledge in all schools https://t.co/kktaKTUOkj pic.twitter.com/XiTB0PgS2o
— AL.com (@aldotcom) April 9, 2019
“I guess this gives it some teeth,” he said. “It gives leaders of the schools and principals a law in place where they won’t be afraid for their students to say it.”
Ledbetter said that the law wouldn’t require all students to actually say the pledge but that it would require schools to have it said every morning. He said that it would be fine if students sit during the pledge.
“There may be some religious objections,” he said, “We certainly don’t want anybody made to do it. But it does keep the pledge in our schools.”
The legislation states, “The pledge of allegiance to the United States shall be conducted at the beginning of each school day and all students attending public kindergarten, primary, and secondary schools shall be given the opportunity each school day to voluntarily recite the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag.”
HB339 – to require Alabama … by on Scribd
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, a 1934 U.S. Supreme Court decision, bars schools from requiring students to stand for or say the pledge of allegiance.
Requiring students to do so violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the judges ruled.
The Alabama bill is scheduled for a committee hearing on April 10. It was introduced on April 3.
Student says teacher made her refusal to stand for Pledge of Allegiance the subject of a test question https://t.co/njBSn4ci6w pic.twitter.com/lHcoSClria
— FOX4 News (@fox4kc) March 14, 2019
Illinois Student Says Teacher Targeted Her for Refusal
An Illinois high school student said that she was targeted by a teacher for not standing up or reciting the pledge of allegiance.
Sukayla Jones, a student at Edwardsville High School, said she stopped standing up for or reciting the pledge when she turned 12.
Jones said that her English literature teacher made her refusal the subject of a test question. The question asked students if they should refuse to stand for the pledge when a substitute teacher is present “…and then abruptly walk out of the classroom rather than take responsibility for your actions and simply discuss your choice in a mature manner,” reported WQAD.
“I was like, I know this is about me because no one else has done this before in his class,” Jones said. “I felt really disrespected and wrong for what I did.”
The Edwardsville School District said in a statement that students are not required to stand or recite the pledge as long as they’re not being disruptive and that the incident was resolved.
Jones and her mother, though, said that they don’t feel as if the situation was taken care of and want a public apology from the teacher.
