Virginia Lawmaker's 'Pledge' Bill Not Popular with ACLU
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
January 18, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Virginia school district has decided to allow students to sit during the Pledge of Allegiance. But a lawmaker in that state hopes his proposed legislation would prevent students under the age of 18 from doing that without their parents' knowledge. It's a question of parental rights, says the legislator -- but the ACLU and others don't agree.The Spotsylvania County School Board changed its policy after a 12-year-old student said he did not want to stand for the Pledge because he disagrees with many U.S. policies. Currently under Virginia law, children are not mandated to recite the Pledge if they object for any reason. According to news reports, the Ni River Middle School seventh-grader initially was instructed by school administrators to stand, but was later permitted to sit after an attorney told the district it was breaking the law by doing so. Consequently the board voted 6-1 to amend its policy.
The lone dissenting vote on the policy change, Ray Lora, stated his concern that, under the revised policy, students could object to the Pledge for any reason without parental approval. Picking up that mantle, Virginia Republican Delegate Mark Cole has introduced a bill that would require parental notification.
"[M]y current legislation would ... require that parents be informed whenever a child refuses to say the Pledge," Cole explains. "That way it's not just something that's based on the whim of the child; the parents would be involved in that decision also."
Speaking as a parent, the legislator -- a U.S. Navy veteran and current Reservist -- says if his child were refusing to recite the Pledge, he would certainly want to know about it. "I think this is a question of parental rights," Cole says, noting the state has parental consent laws for minors seeking abortions.
"[T]his [bill], I think, is just another step to ... strengthen parental rights and also to make sure that parents are involved with what's going on with their children at school."
The American Civil Liberties Union has threatened to file a lawsuit if Cole's measure passes. In a press statement released earlier this month, the ACLU claims its pressure on the school board was at least partially responsible for the policy change.
"The right to refuse for or recite the Pledge is about as fundamental as it gets in a free society," says ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis. "Free speech not only means that the government can't suppress your beliefs, but also that it cannot compel you to profess a belief you do not have."
Willis wrote a letter to Spotsylvania School Board members just prior to the January 10 vote, in which he stated it was "hypocritical" for teachers to instruct children about their First Amendment right to free expression "and then ... eliminate that right in a particular context without a compelling reason for doing so."
The ACLU is not alone in its criticism of Cole's plan. An unsigned editorial in The Free Lance-Star (Fredricksburg, VA) newspaper accuses the state delegate of displaying a "fickle affection for the fruits" of the First Amendment -- and encourages Cole to withdraw what the newspaper says is a "badgering bill."
