Subcommittee Recommends New Policy on Pledge of Allegiance

The policies and procedures subcommittee of the Arlington School Committee voted unanimously (3-0) Monday evening to send a draft policy regarding the Pledge of Allegiance out for legal review.

The potential new policy 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.

Calling it "an extensively hard  3.5 to four weeks," Subcommittee Chair Judson Pierce said he hoped the new potential policy would allow everyone to "move on."

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

Though the pledge has been traditionally 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.

About 35 people attended the mid-summer meeting Tuesday evening in the Community Safety Building, including School Commitee Chairman Joseph Curro and Superintendent Kathleen Bodie. Curro was one of three members of the School Commitee to submit a draft proposal to amend the policy. The other two were submitted by Pierce and Jeff Thielman, the latter of whom was the only member of the School Committee not present at the June 22 meeting.

Ultimately, the subcommittee went with Thielman's proposal, which included language about not being forced to say it. That satisfied Subcommitee Member Leba Heigham's main concern: "What if one child isn't quite so sure (about the Pledge) and sees everyone else, in essence, does that become an impossible environment for that child?"

Several members of the community were also there to lend their opinions. Arthur Edgecomb, a long time Arlington resident and former math teacher in Chelmsford said, "I don't see what the problem is saying the pledge to the flag."

He recommended that those who do not like the "under God" portion of the Pledge "just not say those two words"

"It is basically just saying, 'this is the best country in the world and I am happy and proud to be here,'" Edgecomb said, adding: "This is still the United States, the best nation in the world."

The committee voted unanimously to put the new policy before the school committee, pending approval from the legal department.

"It has been a really tough several weeks for all of us," Pierce said. "I hope that this vote we took tonight somehow moves us forward."

The Arlington School Committee will meet Tuesday, August 3 in the School Committee Meeting Room at the high school.