November 29, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
School Officials Unlawfully Harass and Punish
Students Who Refuse to
Participate in “Pledge of Allegiance,” Says
ACLU
BALTIMORE
-- Acting on behalf of public school students who have been harassed or punished
for declining to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance, the American Civil
Liberties Union of Maryland is calling on school officials to take action to
ensure that teachers and administrators understand the First Amendment rights of
students.
With the hope of raising awareness and promoting
discussion of patriotic exercises, the ACLU of Maryland has sent a letter on the
issue to Nancy Grasmick, State Superintendent of Schools, and Carl Smith, head
of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, along with letters to the
individual Boards of Education of each Maryland county.
“As the
conflict in Iraq continues, we have seen heightened emotions over the Pledge in
public schools across the state,” said Richard Griffiths, an attorney with the
ACLU of Maryland. “The ACLU was founded in response to hostility towards dissent
during World War I, and we strongly believe during difficult times our democracy
is strengthened, not threatened, by a diversity of voices.”
The
ACLU said it has been approached in the past few months by parents seeking help
in Frederick County, Carroll County, Baltimore County, Prince George’s County
and St. Mary’s County, after their children have been physically forced to
salute the flag, harassed for declining to say the Pledge of Allegiance or
denied the right to wear T-shirts critical of the Bush administration. The ACLU
of Maryland believes these troubling incidents need to be addressed on both
county and state levels to ensure that teachers and students understand that the
recitation of the Pledge is not mandatory.
State law requires
schools to furnish the opportunity for patriotic exercise, but the same law
provides for both teachers and students to be excused from participating in
those exercises. In addition, the Supreme Court has long held that individuals
have the right to choose whether or not to participate in prescribed acts of
patriotism. Ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette in
1943, the Court wrote, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional
constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall
be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or
force citizens to confess by word or act their faith
therein.”
“School officials should seize this opportunity to show
strong support of students’ rights, and to educate students about the importance
of the First Amendment,” said ACLU of Maryland Legal Director Deborah A. Jeon,
citing the example of a St. Mary’s high school principal who promised to
personally speak to a class about free speech after the students’ teacher
erroneously ordered that all students must stand for the Pledge. “We think this
approach sends exactly the right message about the school’s respect for our
Constitution.”
