School Counselor Under Fire for Excising God from Pledge
by Jim Brown
April 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - A middle school employee's politically correct version of the Pledge of Allegiance has caused a stir among students and outrage among parents in a Colorado school district. The controversy arose when eighth-grade counselor Margo Lucero filled in for the absent principal of Everitt Middle School in Wheat Ridge.Among other duties, Lucero took over the responsibility of making announcements and reciting the Pledge over the public address system in the principal's absence. However, when she came to the part that usually states "one nation under God," she replaced the traditional words with "one nation under your belief system."
Rick Kaufman, a spokesman for Jefferson County Public Schools, says the school counselor's actions were unacceptable. "We have a responsibility to uphold state policy," he explains, "[T]he Pledge of Allegiance is the accepted pledge in the United States at this point in time. And that is what we expect our staff who are reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to do -- to recite it exactly as it is written and accepted."
Kaufman acknowledged that Lucero has had a meeting with Everitt Middle School's principal and the district superintendent. He would not say, however, whether the school counselor will be disciplined for her politically correct substitution.
"Regardless of her intent, it's inappropriate," the Jefferson County Public Schools representative says. "It's not an expectation that we have for our staff members to alter the Pledge of Allegiance -- and we've shared that with her as well as with the students and staff at that school, and also with parents."
Kaufman says JCPS has sent a letter home with students to explain the situation and to offer the school district's apologies.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
