Storms start to move out of Minnesota, continue for western Wisconsin

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

(AP) - Bishop Edens, 14, was
suspended from school Friday because he wouldn't stand for the
Pledge of Allegiance, but he was quickly invited back once his
principal learned that rule might be unconstitutional.

      The back-and-forth came on the second day of controversy at
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High over the school's policy of
requiring students to stand - but not necessarily recite - during
the pledge.

      Edens saw three of his classmates get disciplined by Principal
Colleen Houglum on Thursday, so he decided to break the rule on
Friday in protest. 

"I feel I should speak my mind about this whole
thing," Edens said.

      Edens was suspended Friday and went home, but his family told
The Forum of Fargo that Houglum invited the teen back to school
that afternoon.

      Attorney Roger Aronson, who represents 1,700 secondary school
principals in Minnesota, said he advised Houglum on Friday that
requiring students to stand could violate their right to freedom of
expression.

      Houglum confirmed in a written statement to The Associated Press
that three students were suspended Thursday for violating the DGF
Student Handbook.

      She said the handbook says "all students will stand" during
the pledge but also says students aren't required to recite it.

      But Houglum also said school officials were reevaluating the
policy.

      "It is our understanding that the phrase, 'all students will
stand' may need to be modified to address the protection of the
individual's form of expression," she said.


      The principal told the students during the class Thursday that
it was disrespectful to sit during the pledge, especially with U.S.
troops fighting in Iraq, Edens said. A boy and two girls spent the
day in in-school suspension.

      "(Houglum) was talking about how people are fighting in the war
for freedom, but she took away their freedom," he said of his
classmates.

      Shaun Anderson, whose daughter was suspended, said his daughter
was talking to a friend about an assignment and didn't hear the
pledge on the intercom. She usually stands for the pledge, Anderson
said.


      "I totally, 100 percent agree with her," Anderson, a member of
the military, said of the principal's original decision. "I think
any American should believe that."

      But Kim Dahl, whose 13-year-old son Brandt was one of those
suspended, called the disciplinary action "ridiculous." Her son
said his homeroom teacher had never told students about the policy.

      "I thought it was kind of dumb because I didn't do anything
wrong," Dahl said. "It should be the people's choice."
      
     

Gallery

The deeper meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance

St. Paul schools will follow state law on Pledge of Allegiance

Three eighth graders in western Minnesota
were suspended this week for sitting down during the Pledge of Allegiance.

3 students in western Minn. suspended over Pledge

Go Deeper.

Like this?