Pledge of Allegiance still a thorny issue at Woodbury school

The Pledge of Allegiance is controversial in this small town: Reciting the traditional school day opener is not a universal rite of passage for students at Woodbury Elementary School.

[20 year vet]

anyone having problems with the pledge of allegiance in schools should hang their head in shame! Better yet pack your bag and move north to Canada

[Jim]

Love the outdoors of Vermont. But lately the folks in Vermont have become quite disrespectful of the values that our country was founded on.

[x vermont]

they are no Vermonters left in Vermont the flatlanders now run the state and look at where they stand. the whole state will be without UNDER GOD usless you all begain to think just what it stands for

[A Woodbury Parent]

I am a parent of a child at Woodbury. The AP article that came out last Friday is biased and intentionally omitted many facts solely to make it sound like the pledge has been banned from our classrooms.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Here's what is really happening in Woodbury, Vermont:

Last month the school staff acted on the petition and they decided to have the students say the pledge together as a group. A large majority of the students participated.

Last week the school staff changed that to having the school kids gather together right outside their classrooms. The students all gather TOGETHER as a group and the six grader selected for that day makes the school announcements and then leads their fellow students in saying the pledge. Then students then return to their rooms.

Many parents I talked to that DID sign the petition are satisfied with the school gathering together as a community and giving the older students the position of leadership for this historic oath.

There is NO policy banning them from the classrooms. If a student really wants to NOT join their fellow students but remain in the classroom to say the pledge, they would not be stopped.

Out of 50-something students, grades K through 6, I counted only 7 students that were not joining in saying the pledge. Many of those were Jehovah's Witnesses and therefore had religious reasons for not doing so, and I respect them for that.

I told MY daughter that is was HER choice to say the pledge, after I made sure she understood ALL aspects of what it truly means, the good and the bad. She decided to say the pledge Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. On Monday and Thursday she is preparing herself for being the class helper, which is a good thig for her to be doing.

Our school has NOT been 'taken over by America hating Communists'. The parent that started the petition has succeeded in fulfilling the exact text of the petition, to the satisfaction of many of the signers, yet he refuses to accept the decision of the Principal (which is all about his own agenda to force the principal out, as he said to me one night after we attended a school board meeting).

Worst of all the parent that started the petition brought an angry mob of mostly NON-Parents to the school last Friday to scare the school staff into doing it his way. The staff and students told me they were terrified of him and his unruly mob, as they stood right outside the front door and berated the School Board chair woman - who is a Christian home-schooler!!!

He did NOT follow the established procedures, by going right to a petition, and now he's resorted to mob intimidation to force his agenda. That is the true story here. He is using the Rule of the Jungle to supplant the Rule of Law, and THAT is Un-American!

Our town is a healthy mix of left and right, as America is meant to be. We still have our annual Town Meeting to discuss all the matters before the town. We still agree to disagree with each other and yet remain friends and respect each other here. It is the author of the petition that is damaging all of that.

You have all been tricked by a biased AP reporter and lied to by Fox News, your hated and anger at our tiny school is wrong and unjustified by facts. Please, in the future, withhold your bile until you know more about the issues.

[Ted Tedesco]

20 year vet wrote:

anyone having problems with the pledge of allegiance in schools should hang their head in shame! Better yet pack your bag and move north to Canada

Thanks for your support. I am the leader of the pro Pledge movement in Woodbury, VT. This individual, "Woodbury Parent," is know to me and he and his wife are the most outspoken critics of saying the Pledge here in Woodbury. They hide behind a screen name, I do not. The husband is a community TV film maker and refuses to release the video of himself and his wife speaking against the Pledge at a School Board meeting where the wife gave the nazi salute suggesting that Pledge supporters are nazis. So much for community access TV out of Hardwick, VT. By the way, this individual also answers the phone at the community access TV office. He will say whatever it takes to bring you to his side but it is a place where no one who loves their country would ever want to stand. Best wishes, Ted Tedesco

[anonymous]

wow 20 year vet that was really mature...