Posted on 08/24/2018 11:26:29 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School Principal Lara Zelski decided students will no longer recite the Pledge of Allegiance during the school’s morning meeting agenda, which she described to parents as “an effort to begin our day as a fully inclusive and connected community.”
“Over the past couple of years it has become increasingly obvious that more and more of our community were choosing to not stand and/or recite the pledge,” she wrote, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
The statement, posted to the school website, promised parents students could recite the Pledge of Allegiance later in the day, if they felt like it, and vowed to create better pledge specifically for the school.
“Teachers and the K-5 leadership team will be working with students to create a school pledge that we can say together at morning meeting,” Zelski wrote, adding that it “will focus on students’ civic responsibility to their school family, community, country and our global society.”
“I’m really looking forward to what our students create,” she wrote, according to TheBlaze.
The move infuriated parents and quickly gained the attention of Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp, and others who denounced the decision.
“I’m sure our House Education Committee will examine whether taxpayer funds should be used to instill such a divisive ideology in our students,” Ralston posted online, the AJC reports.
In less than a day, school officials reversed course.
Zelski’s announcement was wiped from the school’s website and replaced with a statement from Lia Santos, chairwoman of the school’s governing board.
“In the past, the Pledge of Allegiance was recited during our all-school morning meeting, but at the start of the school year, the daily practice was moved to classrooms. This change was done in compliance with state law … and aligned Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School with most other schools in the state who also say the Pledge of Allegiance in individual classrooms.
“However, it appears there was some miscommunication and inconsistency in the rollout. Starting next week, we will return to our original format and provide our students with the opportunity to recite the Pledge during the all-school morning meeting,” Santos wrote.
According to the AJC:
The state DOE policy demands that schools set a time for the pledge, each school day, at the beginning of the school day or during the homeroom period. But students may not be compelled to recite the pledge, it adds.
Districts across metro Atlanta abide by both aspects of the policy – doing the pledge and giving the right to not participate.
Janice Crouse, conservative analyst and author of “Children at Risk,” told One News Now the situation serves an important lesson for parents.
“I think parents should take heart … in that the administration was forced to change their minds and go back to having the Pledge of Allegiance,” she said. “And I think parents can learn from this that they do need to speak out, and they do need to know what’s going on so that they can speak out.”
I try to keep up.
maybe instead of just giving a daily chance to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, a properly educated teacher can teach on it - word for word as to what it actually means and how it applys to citizens today? Seems the principal doesn’t even really understand it which is sad it’s like she is running a govt supported day care not US based school.
Globalism is a myth!
No one is actually trying to make students swear allegiance to global masters!
Wait, sorry, should have read the article before posting.
> Globalism is a myth!
It has been the goal of God-haters since the tower of Babel, which, not coincidentally, is one of the symbols of the EU.
Today’s Lesson for the Kiddies: Dance to the tune of those paying for the music (in this case, schooling paid for by US taxpayers), or leave. Exactly how much funding for this school comes from “global society”?
Is the absence of a comma between school and family intentional? Is it both "school and family" or is it the "school family" as a substitute for the real family?
Today’s Lesson: Dance to the tune of those paying for the music (in this case, schooling paid for by US taxpayers), or leave.
Schools ought to be required to teach children who pays for their schooling, and where most of the money goes. Show them What percentage of that funding comes from the “global society”.
The state should move in and take the following actions: remove ALL members of the School Board, fire the Principal, de-fund the school and replace it with a charter school immediately.
The only way to end this BS is use harsh and uncompromising disciplinary action against those responsible and show that those who engage in this conduct will quickly find themselves out of a job.
I volunteer as an intake interviewer at a local faith based nonprofit food bank.
Every day we open the door at 11am and allow the clients seeking help into the lobby. Shortly there after there is ‘morning prayer time’ during which a volunteer offers a prayer, the group is led in the Lord’s Prayer and the pledge of allegiance. Attendance and participation are voluntary.
This is a great way to start our day of helping.
Libaral lockstep!
It is divisive to love our country and respect the most amazing, freedom of the individual, government created by mankind.
Unbelievable.
You see how Germans could be swayed to think one type of person was lower than cockroaches and needed extermination. Now we see for sure how successful propaganda is, and how critical thinking is necessary for freedom.
Would Ben Franklin sob over this, or would he marvel that the USA lasted 250 years?
[ Libaral lockstep! ]
Just like with Obama, the Nazis want your guns, too.
When I was in High School I was a troubled kid. Alcoholic parents, domestic violence, low level income, and we had just moved from a rural school district, where I made many friends to an urban district where I knew nobody.
In saying the pledge one morning (school wide over the PA) I was disgruntled and didn’t feel like saying the pledge. So I threw the finger (yes THAT one) at my (very nice) homeroom teacher.
Guess what? She saw me! She thought or at least said, that I had disrespected the flag. I didn’t dare tell her that I was throwing the finger at HER! She immediately sent me to the vice principal’s office. We had a “dean of boys” so this was a level up.
I figured I was in BIG trouble.
The vice principal never admonished me one bit. Instead he explained to me about the men who had died so that I was free to attend school and live free in this free country. That the flag was a symbol for our country. It stood as an example for all those who had sacrificed for US!
It was like he was telling me a story not giving me a lecture. He was very sincere.
Then I was excused, no admonishment, no punishment.
I remain impressed to this day.
Because her idea will be instituted later in the future gradually and under deeper cover.
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