Subcommittee Presents Pledge Recommendations to School Committee

The School Committee held a special meeting Monday night to discuss the proposed new policy on the Pledge of Allegiance and is expected to officially vote on the policy Tuesday evening.

The Policies and Procedures Subcommittee presented the proposed new policy, whihc will likely be voted on at tonight's meeting. It 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.

Policies and Procedures Subcommittee Chairman Judson Pierce presented the proposal and said: (We) "Decided that the best idea would be to enact a policy. The benefits of a voluntary Pledge of Allegiance are many."

The issue has been fraught from the beginning when 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 shared their proposal and the School Committee is expected to vote on it Tuesday evening at their 6:30 p.m. meeting.