School Board Chair Resigns Over Pledge Of Allegiance Vote

NEW HARTFORD, CT — Patriotic mainstays such as the "National Anthem" and the "Pledge of Allegiance" continue to be divisive issues in this country, on at least a few high-profile occasions, including in Connecticut. We're all familiar with the uproar over some NFL players who have and continue to take a knee during the National Anthem. Many folks have supported their right to protest what they say are racial inequalities, while many others believe taking a knee is unpatriotic and an insult to those who have served in the Armed Forces.

President Trump has been quite vocal on this issue involving NFL players. Some restaurants and bars even stopped showing NFL games last year, including in Connecticut.

In Connecticut, a Board of Selectmen member in Haddam has been taking a knee during the pre-meeting Pledge of Allegiance, which garnered national attention.

Melissa Schlag, a Democrat, kneeled before the start of two public meetings this summer and at the second meeting she took a knee and dozens of people berated her.

"I don't have to stop my free speech when I walk into a selectmen's meeting," Schlag said to a chorus of boos.
Schlag added: "I don't hate my country. I love my country. We need to continue this conversation." As Schlag rose to talk to the crowd, many in the first few front rows kneeled or turned their backs to her.

And now this week a Board of Education chairman in New Hartford, Conn. has resigned because of a proposed policy involving the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Republican-American reports that New Hartford School Board Chairman Josh Adams resigned after the board voted to mandate each meeting begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. Tom Buzzi, who pitched the policy, said it was meant to unite everyone in the district after a prior contentious vote on closing a school.

Adams told members at the meeting that as chairman he sets the agenda and he wouldn't include the proposal, the Rep-Am reports. But Adams was overruled and resigned after the vote. Prior to the vote he said he doesn't pledge allegiance to anything, according to the Rep-Am, and that he supports the "principles on which the country was founded."

After the meeting, Adams told the Rep-Am, that he had no premeditated plans to resign but felt it was the right thing to do.

>>>Read More at the Rep-Am.

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