This story by Christina Dolan was first published in The Valley News on Oct. 24.
SOUTH STRAFFORD — The practice of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is on hold at The Newton School while teachers, staff and community members discuss a more inclusive alternative that might better reflect the school’s values.
Newton’s new principal, Barrett Williams, wanted to revive some old traditions this year when he brought back a first-day-of-school ceremony at the flagpole that included students, staff and family members saying the pledge together.
The first issue to arise was that not all the students knew the words.
“They had never done it before. They didn’t know what was going on,” Sonya Schumacher said of her children, who are second and fourth grade students at Newton. Schumacher spoke during the public comment section of the board’s October meeting, according to a video recording of the meeting.
The Newton School serves roughly 126 students in grades K-8 in South Strafford.
While some members of the school community were glad to see a return to tradition, others, including board member Nelle Donaldson, worried about the pledge’s religious implications.
If one of the goals of saying the pledge is to foster unity, it has “some real political and religious undertones to it that I’m not sure achieve that,” Donaldson said at the September board meeting. The phrase “under God” was added to the Pledge by Congress in 1954. Donaldson said that the phrase had “roots in the Cold War and assimilation.”
Williams did not return a request for comment by deadline.
Newton parent Dana Riddell said that she enjoyed the ceremony and was glad to see the pledge reintroduced to the school routine.
“I think it’s super important that the kids know the Pledge of Allegiance and it was wonderful on the first day of school to hear it again,” she said at the September board meeting.
By October, the discussion about the pledge seemed to have shifted from removing its religious elements to replacing it altogether with a “Newton pledge” developed in collaboration with students.
“We certainly want student voices included in developing a statement,” reflecting what “the Newton School all about,” White River Valley superintendent Jaime Kinnarney said at the October board meeting.
Kinnarney said that it may take “several months” for that process to produce a statement that school leaders are ready to bring to the board.
In the meantime, the Pledge of Allegiance is in limbo “until we have a full understanding of how the pledge could create harm for members of our school community,” Kinnarney said.
Kinnarney was not available for comment by deadline.
Vermont is one of just four states that do not require schools to make time in the school day for recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
“It’s not a practice that many teachers are doing,” Woodstock Elementary School principal Maggie Mills said by phone Thursday, adding that the school doesn’t have a policy about it.
In the Granite State, a law called the New Hampshire School Patriot Act passed in 2001 requires schools to create time in the day for students to say the pledge. The Supreme Court has long held that Americans cannot be compelled to say the Pledge of Allegiance, so students may sit quietly if they don’t wish to participate.
The Strafford School Board has asked school officials “to involve the school community in this process so that all stakeholders are involved,” board chair Sarah Root said by email Wednesday. “I’m not sure where they are in the process,” she added. “My assumption is that this will take time.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: South Strafford school works to create its own pledge.