Birchview Elementary second-graders recite the Pledge of Allegiance with their pod-mates Friday, Sept. 14
Photo: Mark Trockman
What the law says about the flag
In Minnesota, the state statute requires every public school to display an appropriate U.S. flag when in session.
All public and charter school students must recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag at least once a week.
Any student or teacher may decline to participate in recitation of the pledge.
A school district that has policy guidelines must include a statement that anyone who does not wish to recite the pledge for any reason may elect not to do so and that students must respect another person's right to make that choice.
Unless the requirement is waived by a majority vote of the school board, a school district must instruct students in the proper etiquette toward, correct display of, and respect for the flag, and in patriotic exercises.
Most adults would be hard pressed to remember the last time they said the Pledge of Allegiance.
While the National Anthem is sung at sporting events and played by marching bands in summer parades, the Pledge of Allegiance seems relegated to the world of scout meetings and classrooms.
Although most adults don't recite the Pledge of Allegiance on a regular basis, they assume it's being taught to future generations, that it's said in area schools. Isn't it?
Yes and no. State law stipulates that the Pledge of Allegiance be said by all public and charter school students at least once a week.
The pledge is to be conducted in individual classrooms by teachers or over a school intercom system by a designated person.
However, the state also allows a local school board to waive this requirement and at a Sept. 10 meeting, the Wayzata School Board did just that. It was a unanimous decision.
The district is the only public school district in the Lake Minnetonka area to waive the requirement.
The Hopkins, Minnetonka, Orono and Westonka districts all follow the state's law by requiring students to say the Pledge of Allegiance once a week.
John Moroz, treasurer of the school board explained, "Waiving the state's requirement is an annual discussion. We revisit the issue every year."
"We waive it with a couple of provisions," he added. "All of our elementary schools say the pledge every day, or at the minimum once a week. The middle schools and high school don't say the pledge, but in lieu of that, they sing the 'Star Spangled Banner' at activities."
Students at the elementary level, Moroz said, are more apt to pay attention to the pledge. The pledge is embedded in elementary social studies curriculum. Elementary teachers talk about the pledge and what it means.
As students get older, however, required recitations of the pledge can become more problematic, according to school officials.
The district's three middle schools and one high school operate on intricate schedules. It is harder to find a time when all students are seated in a quiet room ready to participate in the pledge.
Plus, as students enter their teenage years, attitudes often change and attention spans wane when it comes to public announcements and the pledge.
"Everyone involved in this decision is in complete agreement that our goal is to make sure students know, understand and respect the pledge," said Superintendent Robert Ostlund. "The question is how we are best able to do that."
"Requiring the pledge at the elementary level seems the best way to ensure that," Ostlund said, who worked with students at the high school level first as a teacher and later as a principal before becoming superintendent.
"If you do something too much, you start not paying close attention," Ostlund said.
His years spent inside school walls lead him to believe that the pledge is often ignored by secondary students. "By law," Ostlund pointed out, "students have the right not to participate in the pledge."
This is true. While the state requires public and charter school students to recite the pledge at least once a week, it follows the law by stating that students or teachers have the right to refrain from the pledge. The law also says that students and teachers must respect another person's right to make that choice.
Ostlund has seen some older students choose to exercise this right in the classroom, whether it be for civil or religious reasons. On the other hand, some teenage students, Ostlund said, "... don't participate simply because they don't have to."
"We run the risk that the pledge is there, but that the students are not actively participating in it," he said. "That's not the proper attitude to have when saying the pledge. It shouldn't be something that just plays in the background. It should be something we're actively engaged in."
This is not the first year the Wayzata School Board has waived the state's pledge law. Greg Baufield, who has been a member of the board for 11 years, said the board has waived it each year he's served.
Each year, the issue is placed on the board's agenda, and each year it is quickly waived. This year, however, Baufield made a motion to challenge the status quo and requested the district abide by the state's law and require all students in all schools to say the pledge once a week.
"Our job as board members is to debate issues and set policy," Baufield said. "I think it's our job to represent the citizens and to debate. I wanted to kick this issue around."
Carter Peterson, vice chair of the board, made a motion that the issue be discussed at one of the board's work sessions. The pledge issue was discussed in depth at the Aug. 27 work session. Nonetheless, the state's pledge requirement was waived again.
Peterson has voted to waive the state's pledge requirement each of her six years on the board. This year, however, she gladly joined the discussion of the issue.
"If I ever found out our schools weren't reciting the pledge at the elementary level, I'd never vote to waive it," she said.
Board Member Gary Landis was also in support of the board's discussion of the topic this year. He too voted to waive the requirement in the end; yet, he said, "I think it was an interesting discussion. I think requiring that the pledge be said goes back to teaching the founding principals of our country."
"But," Landis added, "requiring the pledge be said doesn't necessarily require each student to say it. There are opt outs. It's important for us to try to honor those students from other cultures, but it's equally important for us to try and honor our own flag. It's a balance."
