School Committee to Discuss Pledge Tonight

The School Committee will hold a special meeting Monday night to discuss the proposed new policy on the Pledge of Allegiance.

They are expected to discuss and possibly make a decision regarding the new proposal recommended last week by the policies and procedures subcommittee, which  states that American flags shall be appropriately displayed in each classroom in the Arlington Public Schools, that the principal of each Arlington public school will ensure that every student has the opportuntity say the Pledge of Allegiance each school day if the student desires, but that a student, administrator or teacher will not be punished for not saying it.

High School Senior Sean Harrington and the Arlington Public Schools were thrust into the national spotlight in June after the School Committee deadlocked on Harrington's request reinstate the Pledge of Allegiance at Arlington High School at their June 22 meeting.

Though the pledge is recited in all of the elementary schools and at the Ottoson Middle School, it stopped being recited daily at the high school years ago, and the decision as to whether it is recited daily has been left up to the individual school administration.

Harrington spent three years gathering more than 700 signatures for his petition to to reinstate the pledge in the high school. He presented it at the June 22 meeting and the committee voted 3-3. A tie fails.

The story went national after Fox News ran a report on the issue and soon the School Committee was flooded with phone calls, e-mails and threats.

Monday night, the Policies and Procedures Subcommittee of the Arlington School Committee will share their proposal and possibly set a guideline for all the schools to follow.

"There are a lot of things going on. I think state law and federal law are slightly at odds," Committee member Leba Heigham said last week. "And I think what we are doing is a bit extraneous. But I need to listen to community members and I have had more people call me privately with concerns about not being compelled to say it then people angry because it was not being recited. For me, this is less about saying the Pledge and more about having a policy that protects individual rights. This creates a place for their civil rights."

The special meeting tonight will be at Dallin Elementary School at 5:30 p.m. The regular meeting of the School Committee is Tuesday at 7:30.