Very clever. You can't force students to recite the pledge....but if you call it an "assignment"-you can!

TRACY (CBS13) — A Tracy high-school student is in hot water after omitting the words “under God” from his reading of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Derek Giardina, 17, says he’s been given detention and docked points after omitting the reference to God, and the school district is standing by its decision.
Tracy Unified School District says it respects everyone’s religious beliefs, or lack thereof, but say if you’re going to lead the school in the pledge, you better say it in the traditional way.
Giardina says he went along with his speech and debate class assignment to lead West High School in the pledge.
“Personally I wouldn’t say the pledge at all, because I’m not necessarily very patriotic, and I’m not religious,” he said.
Everyone in the class is required to do it 12 times a year. He read the 1954 version his first two times. But on his third he felt it necessary to remove the line “under god” from his reading, simply skipping over it and reciting the pledge as it was before the 1954 amendment during the Cold War.
Giardina says he’s agnostic, but then learned his grade had been docked.

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/11/ ... llegiance/

Lawsuit time.

He should sue.

It was a Speech and Debate class assignment to lead the Pledge, right? So basically he's reading from a script he doesn't necessarily have to believe?

I have argued sides I didn't believe in my Social Work MSW classes. I am tired of huge awards assigned where the plaintiff has really not suffered any damage.

Call 1-800-sue-the-bastard

Hope he loses. He accepted the assignment according to the opening post.

I am tired of huge awards assigned where the plaintiff has really not suffered any damage.

You realize you could get sued for expressing such un-American sentiments, don't you? Striking fear into the cold, grasping, 33 percent hearts of trial lawyers everywhere! Suggesting America and Americans be deprived of their national pass time! You must be a commie!

A lawsuit doesn't necessarily have to be about money. Sometimes they are about changing a law or making sure that people are allowed their rights as citizens.

He had the right to refuse to do this, and do a different assignment.

TRACY (CBS SF) – A high school student in Tracy said he has been given detention and docked points in his speech and debate class for omitting “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.

According to CBS 13 in Sacramento, an assignment in the speech and debate class required all students to lead West High School in the pledge 12 times a year.

17-year-old Derek Giardina went along with the assignment, reading the 1954 version of the Pledge of Allegiance his first two times. But on the third occasion, he left out “under God” from his reading.

“Personally, I wouldn’t say the pledge at all, because I’m not necessarily very patriotic, and I’m not religious,” Giardina said.

The senior said he’s agnostic, hence his decision to leave “under God” out of the pledge. But then, he found out his grade in the class had been docked. “I think I have a low C now, from doing other speeches, but it is a very large point value,” Giardina said.

He also said that he was warned if he omitted the phrase again, he would be in trouble. He did just that, and consequently was punished with detention.

Tracy Unified School District spokesperson Sam Strube said that while school leaders respect all students’ rights not to recite the pledge, Giardina was disciplined because it was part of an assignment. “A public forum where you’re going to represent the school is not a place where you can voice a controversial issue and force that on other people,” Strube said. He adds that if students did not want to do the assignment, there was .
an alternative offered
Giardina said he’s been told he will no longer be able to do announcements.

Meanwhile, the American Humanist Association has sent a letter to the Tracy Unified School District saying Giardina was told by school staff that the law required the pledge be recited with the phrase “under God.” The group said that is not true and is a violation of his constitutional rights.

Link coming....


Most of my eleventh grader homeroom students did not say the pledge at all any of the words, but a communications student lead it on TV. They played a tape of the national anthem. I'm thinking once this kid gets his $2M for not doing what he agreed to do, they will play a tape of the pledge, too.

Soon they will have to get rid of all literature in English class with the words God, heaven, hell in it lest an atheist student accidently read that aloud.

Exactly, roseanne! ~

Kathy, I agree we're a litigious society and that some awards are ridiculous ~ both the causes and the judgments ~ but I've posted before on my personal civics lesson from a wise and wonderful partner at the law firm I spent my entire working life at, who happened to be a founder of the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU here in Chicago ~ he was Jewish AND he was a lead author in the lawsuit that allowed the Nazis to march in Skokie, IL decades ago ~ we do not and should not pick-and-choose who is entitled to rights based on whether or not we like or respect the people or even the issue involved ~ if/when we violate or allow violation of anyone's rights, we put ourselves at risk ~

Sooz

Kathy, you are sounding a little like the far-right fundamentalists who declare that because religious expressions (prayers, scripture, etc) are not allowed in certain places, it's the downfall of Christianity. The very fact that a recorded version of the pledge is still being played sort of nullifies your fears.

Besides, a pledge of any kind is a far cry from reading literature. It's similar to an oath.

My feeling is the kid was wrong. While I respect his feelings on the matter of including the "under God" phrase and can omit it anytime he says it privately, if he is required to recite it publicly he should do so in the legally approved manner. The politics of changing it should be left outside formal circumstances.

In a lot of ways the discussion in here is very much the flip side of the discussion we had a couple of years ago where the valedictorian have turned her speech into a mini-sermon thanking God and Jesus for getting him where he was and how He would do the same for all His believers.

Am I the only one seeing the irony here?

I think this board in particular sees that the rights of the atheist are oppressed somehow. That a kid who signed up for leading the Pledge Allegiance in a Speech class actually having to do it is stepping on his civil liberties. Don't sign up for the assignment. The kid had a choice. He was not forced to do this assignment he chose to. BTW, I'm not afraid. I don't think there is anything to fear here.

I don't think it is different than reading literature aloud or singing aloud. I remember singing the Lord Omnipotent Reigneth and being thrilled that Handel's Messiah had high Gs. I couldn't hit one now for the life of me, but oh I loved singing it then. I am pretty sure I had prayer-like dialogue when I was reading Ophelia in senior English, too.

No, you're not alone, jab ~ that's a solid observation ~

Sooz

I think you are missing the important half of the sentence,...

Choices. That is the critical element here.

people think CA is dark blue. it isn't. the coast is blue. inland is bright red.

I don't think this is a red or blue issue anyway.

When is the last time any of you did morning announcements, pledge, National anthem, etc in a high school? I did them 6 years ago.

Maroon 5 started out singing some song I liked. I did attendance during that song. We stood up and they played the National Anthem. A couple kids put their hands over their hearts (maybe 4 out of 26), then a communication kid led the Pledge. Maybe 5 kids said that. Then everyone sat down and listened to the communication kid do the announcements. Sometimes we saw clip of our team's sporting events or the dance recital or something else and then they left for class.

Our communication kid always said the full pledge even if he didn't in the classroom because it was part of his role as moderator.

Same here in IL, mac ~ Chicago is dark blue but most of the rest of the state is bright red with only a few pockets of purple, mostly in/around cities [Peoria, Rockford, Springfield] ~

Sooz

Kathy, what you did 6 years ago is immaterial ~ not only have things changed dramatically since then, but your school didn't do anything that violated anyone's rights ~ violation of civil rights is the issue here ~

Sooz

So you are agreeing then that this girl's rights were violated when she inserted references to God and Jesus?

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/090107 ... 7094.shtml

The student 's purpose was to make a controversial political point. There's a place for that, maybe not in this assignment. The student's problem was the fact that the pledge uses the pronoun "I". And by merely reciting the darned thing ..."I pledge allegiance"...he publicly contradicts his core belief. I'm not sure why, if he feels that strongly about it, he agreed to do the thing, unless he saw it as an opportunity to flaunt his contrary opinion. Otherwise he chould have said, "I quote: 'I pledge allegiance to the flag,...one nation under God...liberty & justice for all.' Close quote." Or something like that.

Personally, I don't think that a purpose of high school education should be fostering nationalism. If we're going to have a lawsuit, let it be about that.

I'm with Gramps.

But what is really bizzare to this outsider is why this is even an issue at all.

Its ultimately a problem of the mistaken attempt to codify everything.

Cattleman, there are a lot of people who think US public schools are hotbeds of radicalism, secularism, licentiousness, oneworldism, anti-Christianity, and just generally dens of socialist iniquity. We have a huge national fight going on now over public education. So when something like this comes up, it's gasoline on the fire.