Springfield school board considers a Pledge of Allegiance policy
SPRINGFIELD — The School Committee is considering writing a policy calling for all schools to say the Pledge of Allegiance after one member said its daily recitation varies from school to school.
But developing a policy may be difficult since educators cannot legally force students or teachers to recite it school lawyers said.
“All my kids went to Springfield Public Schools and it was scattershot,” said Peter Murphy, a School Committee member and a lawyer.
The question was brought to his attention by some parents who said they noticed their children don’t say the Pledge of Allegiance, which was once the traditional start of the school day.
The School Committee student representative Auly Dilone, a junior at Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy, confirmed schools do not follow the same practices regarding the Pledge of Allegiance.
“I do the morning announcements and we do say the Pledge of Allegiance. Most students don’t say it,” she said. “No one has told me I have to say it.”
But Dilone said she previously attended The Springfield Renaissance School and they did not say the pledge regularly.
Under a Massachusetts Supreme Court decision, requiring students or staff to recite the Pledge of Allegiance violates their First Amendment rights. But the statute also says students should have the opportunity to say the pledge if they chose, said Jeremy Saint Laurent, the school department lawyer.
Murphy said in his research he did find a state law that says the schools are required to say the Pledge of Allegiance.
“We have to give students the opportunity to say it. They have a right to not say it,” he said. “In the enforcement it says a teacher can be fined $5 a day for not allowing them to say the Pledge of Allegiance, so there is actually an enforcement mechanism. I can’t imagine anyone has ever utilized it.”
School Committee lawyer Ian Keefe said the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, which offers a variety of sample education policies, does not have one on the Pledge of Allegiance. But he found three different ones from school districts across the state for Springfield to review.
The School Committee is now planning to continue the research and debate about developing a policy in subcommittee.
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