[ppaul]

Here's the link to article in the local newspaper, The Capitol Times, of Madison, Wisconsin.

[jgrubbs]

Pledge banned in city schools
School Board also nixes anthems words

By Lee Sensenbrenner and Kathryn Kingsbury
October 9, 2001


The Capital TimesClass recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance is no longer allowed in the Madison Metropolitan School District.

The School Board voted 3 to 2 Monday to ban the pledge, which had been used in some schools to comply with a recent state law.

The law, which went into effect Sept. 1, requires schools to offer a moment of patriotism sometime during the day - leading students who don't object through either the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance.

In Madison schools, though, the pledge is out. And so, too, are the words of the national anthem.

The action the board took requires Madison schools to use a wordless version of the national anthem to comply with the law, and it forbids anyone from leading a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Taking out the words of the "Star-Spangled Banner" was an attempt to address the same concerns some had with the pledge.

School Board member Bill Keys said parents had flooded officials with calls and e-mails saying they were upset with the phrases in the pledge such as "one nation under God" and militaristic themes in the national anthem. And both, parents said, imposed a mass mentality on students.

Superintendent Art Rainwater said the solution would not please everybody.

"We do have staff members that are as adamantly opposed to the national anthem as they are to the pledge," he said.

Of the five board members present, Calvin Williams, Carol Carstensen, and Keys voted in favor of the measure. Shwaw Vang and Ruth Robarts voted against it.

"I'm just very uncomfortable with anything that does not remove the coerciveness of the classroom," said Robarts, who had proposed offering the Pledge of Allegiance in gymnasiums or auditoriums so that no student felt compelled to participate. Students who wanted to could leave class at a specified time during the day to recite it, she said.

But Carstensen said such an arrangement would be a logistical nightmare. And she said that children who stayed behind in classrooms might feel excluded, anyway.

Each of the half-dozen citizens who addressed the board either spoke against the new state law or expressed concern about the way it was implemented last week in the Madison schools.

Until now, it was up to each school to choose whether to recite the pledge or sing the anthem. How the students and staff have reacted to the law has varied.

DuWayne Hoffman, a teacher at Randall Elementary, said he had already been approached by children who were worried because their parents asked them not to recite the pledge.

"I am just concerned about kids who are pulled in opposite directions because their beliefs are different," he said.

At Madison West High School, a tinny rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" has been piped through the loudspeakers each morning.

As it played Monday morning, students at the school's computer lab typed steadily through it.

In an English as a second language class down the hall, a teacher urged her students to stand up. All of them did, a few with their hands folded and heads bowed. Most classrooms fell somewhere in between the two extremes of observance. Some students stood, fewer sang, and many remained seated quietly. Several doodled or leaned over to a seated neighbor and whispered.

Now, no class will be led to sing the anthem.

Freshman Laura Shank said she was surprised when West High began a new tradition of playing the national anthem during its morning announcements last week, but said, "it's not really that big of an issue."

She added that she was glad her school's principal, Loren Rathert, had opted for the "Star-Spangled Banner" over the pledge, which she said she wouldn't feel comfortable reciting.

"I wouldn't want to agree totally with everything our country does," she said.

Rathert said the new law, which has drawn fire in Madison for mingling church and state and alienating international students, has turned into a valuable civics lesson for his students.

"They're learning that these issues can be messy," he said.


Published: 10:12 AM 10/09/01

[jgrubbs]

Pledge banned in city schools
School Board also nixes anthems words

By Lee Sensenbrenner and Kathryn Kingsbury
October 9, 2001


The Capital TimesClass recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance is no longer allowed in the Madison Metropolitan School District.

The School Board voted 3 to 2 Monday to ban the pledge, which had been used in some schools to comply with a recent state law.

The law, which went into effect Sept. 1, requires schools to offer a moment of patriotism sometime during the day - leading students who don't object through either the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance.

In Madison schools, though, the pledge is out. And so, too, are the words of the national anthem.

The action the board took requires Madison schools to use a wordless version of the national anthem to comply with the law, and it forbids anyone from leading a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Taking out the words of the "Star-Spangled Banner" was an attempt to address the same concerns some had with the pledge.

School Board member Bill Keys said parents had flooded officials with calls and e-mails saying they were upset with the phrases in the pledge such as "one nation under God" and militaristic themes in the national anthem. And both, parents said, imposed a mass mentality on students.

Superintendent Art Rainwater said the solution would not please everybody.

"We do have staff members that are as adamantly opposed to the national anthem as they are to the pledge," he said.

Of the five board members present, Calvin Williams, Carol Carstensen, and Keys voted in favor of the measure. Shwaw Vang and Ruth Robarts voted against it.

"I'm just very uncomfortable with anything that does not remove the coerciveness of the classroom," said Robarts, who had proposed offering the Pledge of Allegiance in gymnasiums or auditoriums so that no student felt compelled to participate. Students who wanted to could leave class at a specified time during the day to recite it, she said.

But Carstensen said such an arrangement would be a logistical nightmare. And she said that children who stayed behind in classrooms might feel excluded, anyway.

Each of the half-dozen citizens who addressed the board either spoke against the new state law or expressed concern about the way it was implemented last week in the Madison schools.

Until now, it was up to each school to choose whether to recite the pledge or sing the anthem. How the students and staff have reacted to the law has varied.

DuWayne Hoffman, a teacher at Randall Elementary, said he had already been approached by children who were worried because their parents asked them not to recite the pledge.

"I am just concerned about kids who are pulled in opposite directions because their beliefs are different," he said.

At Madison West High School, a tinny rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" has been piped through the loudspeakers each morning.

As it played Monday morning, students at the school's computer lab typed steadily through it.

In an English as a second language class down the hall, a teacher urged her students to stand up. All of them did, a few with their hands folded and heads bowed. Most classrooms fell somewhere in between the two extremes of observance. Some students stood, fewer sang, and many remained seated quietly. Several doodled or leaned over to a seated neighbor and whispered.

Now, no class will be led to sing the anthem.

Freshman Laura Shank said she was surprised when West High began a new tradition of playing the national anthem during its morning announcements last week, but said, "it's not really that big of an issue."

She added that she was glad her school's principal, Loren Rathert, had opted for the "Star-Spangled Banner" over the pledge, which she said she wouldn't feel comfortable reciting.

"I wouldn't want to agree totally with everything our country does," she said.

Rathert said the new law, which has drawn fire in Madison for mingling church and state and alienating international students, has turned into a valuable civics lesson for his students.

"They're learning that these issues can be messy," he said.


Published: 10:12 AM 10/09/01