Posted on 10/10/2001 3:04:17 PM PDT by cgk
Madison Schools Take Heat For Pledge Ban Meeting To Reconsider Ban Monday Posted: 6:58 p.m. CDT October 9, 2001 Updated: 4:44 p.m. CDT October 10, 2001
MADISON, Wis. -- The Madison School Board is taking heavy criticism for a decision effectively barring children from saying the Pledge of Allegiance in class.
The Pledge of Allegiance is a daily part of class for Mrs. Weiss' second-graders at Rawson Elementary in South Milwaukee.
But, it's the "one nation under God" line that the Madison School Board found offensive.
"What I wanted to do was eliminate that which would be repugnant to those who believe very strongly and would have their personal and political beliefs violated by group coercion," Madison School District board member Bill Keys said.
"A state law just implemented in September requires the pledge or the national anthem, daily, in every school. Instead of allowing the schools to choose, the school board settled on an instrumental version of the national anthem. "It says, "In God we trust," right there, so I don't agree at all with that," J.J. Sprague of South Milwaukee said.
Their decision isn't playing well on the streets of South Milwaukee.
"It's poor timing, very poor timing. This is a time when the entire country is uniting and we are all praying for the survivors and the victims of the recent national disaster," Sprague said.
On Tuesday, the Madison School Board announced that it will reconsider its decision after the school district received 426 e-mails and phone calls with only five supporting their decision.
The meeting to reconsider the ban is now set for Monday.
Copyright 2001 by TheMilwaukeeChannel.com. All rights reserved
comments@madison.k12.wi.us.
I, for one, am appalled at their divisiveness. These are the people in charge of our children's educations. I could not have been prouder than when my 10 year old daughter told me she was getting out her "old" Old Navy American Flag t-shirt to wear to school after the attacks on September 11.
Stay safe,
Mrs Kus
Dear School Board Members,
I find it appalling that in the wake of our Nation's loss of 5000+ Americans, countless foreign citizens, and the deployment of our Military across the globe to protect all of us Americans here at home, that you would choose to ban our Pledge of Allegiance and the Lyrics to our National Anthem.
This is not a time to be semantizing over feelings being hurt. People are dead. Children have been orphaned. Our National motto is "In God We Trust." Our currency reads "In God We Trust." Our flag is a symbol for our unity, in times of peace and in times of war. Our National Anthem "The Star Spangled Banner" is a tribute to all who fought for this country's freedom, and died for your freedoms today.
Nothing could be more divisive than teaching children that the American flag and America's National Anthem are "Divisive." God has many names, many faces. In every religion and in every country. However, it all comes down to them sharing the name "God."
Reconsider your ban on two of our Nation's greatest symbols. My daughter, aged 10, wears her American flag t-shirt proudly. It was a choice she made to purchase that shirt on her own, before September 11. She wears it now in honor of our Great Nation.
Sincerely,
....
State-funded schools do not have the freedom to choose anything. They have to follow the law that has been duly passed by the legislature.
Also this Clymer should remember just who really pays his salary, i.e. the State's taxpayers. If the taxpayers had a problem with the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, it would never have become law in the first place.
(barf alert)
Note to enviro-pc-psychos: GET YOUR OWN D*** PLEDGE!
Mrs Kus
AMEN. And I admire your FReep-handle.
Poetically fitting.
Mrs Kus
I know that as an Ohioan, it is not my business to suggest how Wisconsin parents respond to this. But it is impossible not to think in terms of recall petitions--if they have such;--as well as defeating future school levies--again if they have such. It is hard to imagine just stopping with a verbal protest, when supposed public officials throw down the gauntlet in this manner.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
Dear Board Members,
Hypersensitivity seems to be a systemic problem for those of you whose role is that of a public servant. After all, you must seek to avoid conflict with as well as placate those who would be against you. In the end one will lose.
What I want to know from each of you is why it has to be the heritage and culture and history of America that loses in the case of wanting to rid your school of the word "God."
I not in shock at what you have desired to do, it is, sadly, occurring all too often. May I offer you what other things you then need to think about changing so as not to offend???
While you are at this, have each student read aloud the Declaration of Independence. Now, make sure not to allow them to make any mention whatsoever of the Creator mentioned four times in it. This would likely offend at least one person in the school. Maybe you should just avoid mentioning it altogether. Got to be careful here.
Never allow the students to learn of the murals on the walls of the chamber of the Supreme Court. After all, there will be one person offended by Moses and the Ten Commandments.
Do not teach a thing about the Cemeteries of Arlington in Virginia or those of Normandy France. I am sure that even though the many tens of thousands who lie in rest there died for our nation we would not want that SINGLE student offended that God would be mentioned on the tombstone or of those white crosses and stars of David in France.
Make sure not to teach them one bit of the engravings on the many federal and state government buildings through out the nation. We would not want that student offended, or his or her parents.
Do you get my point yet?? We ARE one nation under God. It places NO compunction upon any to believe in it or adhere to any religious doctrine, it simple unifies us as a religious nation which we are though many in it are not. They are free to do this. Though founded as a christian nation (Don't believe me, seek out the words of John Jay the first Supreme Court Justice) we have never made it a point to command a single person to be a US citizen and believe anything.
It has to be said, grow up. Stop quivering in your positions as public servants because one person makes a complaint and as a result throw out the national heritage, history and culture.
Actually take the time to teach the factual historical founding’s of our nation to the children of your school. It was not until I left the bondage of the public school system of Massachusetts that I actually picked up a book on history and realized how much I had NOT been taught.
I am willing to wager that not a one of you know a single thing surrounding the debate of the very first amendment to our Constitution. Let me provide you the following quote from the Annals of the Congress for that very thing:
August 15, 1789. Mr. [Peter] Sylvester [of New York] had some doubts...He feared it [the First Amendment] might be thought to have a tendency to abolish religion altogether...Mr. [Elbridge] Gerry [of Massachusetts] said it would read better if it was that "no religious doctrine shall be established by law."...Mr. [James] Madison [of Virginia] said he apprehended the meaning of the words to be, that "Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal observation of it by law."...[T]he State[s]...seemed to entertain an opinion that under the clause of the Constitution...it enabled them [Congress] to make laws of such a nature as might...establish a national religion; to prevent these effects he presumed the amendment was intended...Mr. Madison thought if the word "National" was inserted before religion, it would satisfy the minds of honorable gentlemen...He thought if the word "national" was introduced, it would point the amendment directly to the object it was intended to prevent. (Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (Washington D.C.: Gales & Seaton, 1834, Vol. I pp. 757-759, August 15, 1789)
Amazing. Have either of you encouraged even a single teacher in the school district to show this to their classes? Of course not. It is counter-political to your current way of thinking. It is not comfortable either. After all, you would not have come to the decision you have were not someone breathing down your neck about it. And for the complaints of one, the many get robed of their heritage, their inheritance and their culture.
Mrs Kus
comments@madison.k12.wi.us
Mrs Kus
Call to Action: Glenn Beck Radio Program Urges CALLS to Madison WI Super
Mrs Kus
Dear Madison School Board,
I somewhat understand your hypersensitive reaction to some child being group coerced into saying "Under God". At the greatest extreme it could be construed as promotion of a theological view. However, I don't believe the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner holds any religious connotation. Let me check:
Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Nope not a deity in sight - in fact, only themes of pride in our Nation. It's okay to be proud of this Nation. It one of the few and rare nations that learns from its errors, makes fundamental changes and strives to deliver liberty and justice for all. Please let the children you guide celebrate this great Nation.
DSHambone
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