Posted on 04/22/2005 12:05:50 PM PDT by kingattax
JEFFERSON COUNTY - Seventh-grader Bailey Pierce, hand pressed against her heart, was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance when the voice over the intercom said something that stopped her cold.
"One nation, under 'your belief system.' "
Bailey said that guidance counselor Margo Lucero substituted the phrase for "under God" while leading the morning pledge at Everitt Middle School on Wednesday.
Bailey said the incident shocked her and her classmates, many of whom stopped in mid-sentence and exchanged bewildered looks.
Principal Kathleen Norton was out of the building during the incident, but apologized Thursday to the student body and today will be sending letters of apology to parents.
"It was completely inappropriate," Jefferson County School District Superintendent Cindy Stevenson said. "We completely believe any teacher or student has the right to follow their individual conscience, however, when leading children, you adhere to the Pledge of Allegiance."
Lucero said she didn't intend to be offensive but rather wanted to mark the sixth anniversary of the Columbine High School slayings by evoking a sense of tolerance.
"Given the anniversary of Columbine, it was a spur-of-the- moment choice that I made, intended to acknowledge differences that lie in our society," Lucero said. "It's not a reflection of the district, and it was not my intention to offend anyone, rather to include (everyone)."
Stevenson would not discuss whether Lucero faces any discipline but said Norton was working with the counselor.
Some parents, including Christina Pulciani-Johnson, say Lucero should be disciplined.
"I think she should be reprimanded," said Pulciani- Johnson, who has a son in the seventh grade at Ever-itt.
Pulciano-Johnson said she spoke with Lucero, and the counselor told her that she believed in separation of church and school.
Still, "she had no right to change (the pledge)," Pulciani- Johnson said.
Stevenson said that Jefferson County schools follow state guidelines that give children the choice of saying the pledge. Most district schools broadcast the pledge over their intercom system along with announcements at the beginning of the day, she said.
At Everitt, the principal normally leads the pledge. If she's unavailable the secretary does it, and occasionally, students perform the duty.
"It was unusual," Stevenson said of what happened. "The counselor just said, 'I can do it,' and she did it."
Students were questioning whether what the counselor did was right.
"It kind of changed some kids' day," Bailey said.
"Some of them believe in God and thought it was wrong for her to change it."
Bailey's mother, Shelley, said, "The school intercom system is not the correct means for voicing one's personal political opinions."
The district agrees.
"If you have a problem with the pledge, that's your issue," Stevenson said. "Adults should not try to influence children with their personal conscience."
millerj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5425
Unreal
No, it wasn't. This was carefully planned.
She thinks we're so stupid that we'd believe that this sort of slipped out at the last moment.
How the pledge would read if our liberal school system ran the entire country:
One world because nationalism is bad,
under your own belief system,
easily divisible since we share no common beliefs,
with no true liberty or justice for anyone.
Instead of just scrolling past them all, please take a moment to click the applicable state on the Topics screen when posting news of local interest.
These are the types of folks providing "guidance" to your kids in the Public Schools....
She thinks we're so stupid that we'd believe that this sort of slipped out at the last moment.
=======
Must have been a "language" thingy... y'know... kinda sorta
like Arnold 's Close v. Maintain The Border double speak !!! ;-))
There is legitimate traffic in both directions that we would like to continue.
I want it changed to "one nation, of 50 sovereign states". Gets rid of the religion issue, and also corrects the very intentional socialist one-government-for-all slant of this pledge. Just imagine, public school kids all across the land getting it into their heads that states are sovereign entities. No wonder the leftists prefer to keep the right focused on the "under God" squabble.
These people are hilarious. I think they have no idea just how silly they are, you can't even satirize them, when they are such a self-parody.
Hah. Good one. Surely you realize you're about 100 years too late with that "sovereign states" stuff.
"Adults should not try to influence children with their personal conscience."
WTF? Earth and parents, teachers, priests and ministers to Lucero: Go home. Go. Go wherever. Just go. Away. Anywhere. Not here. Not on my watch.
principals email is knorton@jeffco.k12.co.us, Lucero ph # 303- 982 -1531
I was just thinking about that, too. Very John Lennonish if you take this thing far enough. Everyone will end up naked in beds with white sheets, proclaiming peace while using obtuse words.
whenever I hear the word tolerance I shudder. It just means discrimination in a pretty package. (Usually discrimination against Christians)
When I used to say the Pledge as a youngster(before I realized its origins and that it's something I doubt the Framers themselves would support) I would drop the word indivisible.
I'm sorry, but the pledge is being said in school precisly to influence the child's belief system. We want citizens to grow up and love and appreciate the country that nourish's them.
I believe its time we re-implemented the teacher's oath to these school officials. And BTW, sometimes these ideas come back when the kids really need it and they remember that there are some things they should have alligence to.
The Scout Oath is in this category as well, and when explained, the term G-d in the Scout Oath is allowed to be defined by the scout as part of his belief system. But he still says the word in the oath.
More on the lib pledge:
"I pledge tolerace to the multiplicity of subcultures,
One world because of multiculuralistic patchwork,
under my own belief system,
divisible according to the diversity of all common beliefs,
with no true liberty or justice for anyone."
Now we need a good set of Buzzword Bingo!
AlGORE Buzzword Bingo: http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/1996/gore/
And, the granddaddy of them all: Business Buzzword Bingo
http://portal.bingocorp.com/Bingo/bbbingo.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.