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The ACLU of Virginia has sent a letter to Spotsylvania County School Board members, formally urging them to change the district's Pledge of Allegiance policy.
"It is nothing short of hypocritical to teach children that the First Amendment protects their right of free expression and then to eliminate that right without a compelling reason," reads the letter from ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis.
The School Board is scheduled to vote on its pledge policy tomorrow night at the River Run Business Center on U.S. 1 across from Massaponax High School. The meeting begins at 6:30, and members of the public are allowed to address the board before the vote.
Spotsylvania requires all public school students to stand and salute the flag for the pledge at the start of each school day. The county's policy doesn't require students to recite the words, but it doesn't let objecting students sit through it.
A 12-year-old seventh-grader at Ni River Middle School objected, arguing that's a compelled act of patriotism that violates his First Amendment right to free speech. He said he doesn't agree with many of the federal government's current policies.
School administrators told him to stand but later allowed him to sit after a School Board attorney said Spotsylvania was breaking Virginia law, which specifically allows objecting students to sit.
Board members and administrators said they never intended to break state law, calling it an oversight and saying teachers who forced students to stand misinterpreted the policy.
Other Fredericksburg-area schools all drafted policies allowing students to sit.
At its Dec. 13 meeting, the School Board voted 6-1 to change the policy and allow objecting students to sit. Ray Lora was the lone dissenter. The board has to vote twice on the policy change.
Spotsylvania administrators are recommending that the board change the policy Monday to allow students to sit through the pledge.
Lora said he plans to vote against the change, saying he's concerned that students can object to the pledge for any reason without parental approval. He added that he's ready to move on to other items--including passing a budget for next year.
"It is nothing short of hypocritical to teach children that the First Amendment protects their right of free expression and then to eliminate that right without a compelling reason," reads the letter from ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis.
The School Board is scheduled to vote on its pledge policy tomorrow night at the River Run Business Center on U.S. 1 across from Massaponax High School. The meeting begins at 6:30, and members of the public are allowed to address the board before the vote.
Spotsylvania requires all public school students to stand and salute the flag for the pledge at the start of each school day. The county's policy doesn't require students to recite the words, but it doesn't let objecting students sit through it.
A 12-year-old seventh-grader at Ni River Middle School objected, arguing that's a compelled act of patriotism that violates his First Amendment right to free speech. He said he doesn't agree with many of the federal government's current policies.
School administrators told him to stand but later allowed him to sit after a School Board attorney said Spotsylvania was breaking Virginia law, which specifically allows objecting students to sit.
Board members and administrators said they never intended to break state law, calling it an oversight and saying teachers who forced students to stand misinterpreted the policy.
Other Fredericksburg-area schools all drafted policies allowing students to sit.
At its Dec. 13 meeting, the School Board voted 6-1 to change the policy and allow objecting students to sit. Ray Lora was the lone dissenter. The board has to vote twice on the policy change.
Spotsylvania administrators are recommending that the board change the policy Monday to allow students to sit through the pledge.
Lora said he plans to vote against the change, saying he's concerned that students can object to the pledge for any reason without parental approval. He added that he's ready to move on to other items--including passing a budget for next year.