The pledge of allegiance has been aired daily during seminar since Sept. 25. For many students, this came as a surprise, but in reality the statute which prompted the renewal of the tradition has been in place since 2014.
The pledge has been drilled into the minds of students since early elementary school, even into middle school for some. However, once students reached the high school level, the pledge seemed to no longer exist.
Though in actuality, Kansas Statute 72-5308 was realized in 2014 as a mandate for patriotic exercises. It includes a daily recognition of the pledge of allegiance, flag etiquette, legal holidays such as memorial day and says school boards should adopt any of these as necessary.
The district was recently made aware of the mandate and began to bring back the pledge of allegiance as a result. Principal Dr. Gail Holder explains via email about how she found out about the statute.
“I heard about the state mandate two weeks ago,” Holder said. “We implemented it as soon as I was made aware.”
Once notified, Holder immediately spoke with MVTV to implement the pledge of allegiance into the daily announcements.
The new routine has been met with mixed reactions from both students and staff. Sophomore Jordan Powell believes it is unnecessary, old fashioned and political.
“I don’t agree with the ideals that standing for the pledge portrays,” Powell said.
Students like Powell who don’t support the pledge still have the option of not standing when it is said during seminar, according to the Supreme Court. In the 1943 case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court concluded that students cannot be compelled to recite the pledge of allegiance and students who choose not to cannot be punished for doing so.
However, some people, like French teacher Denise Smith support the revival of the pledge. Throughout her time as a student and her career as a teacher, Smith has stood for the pledge daily. She finds it to be an important thing to have in school and in general.
“My father is a veteran and I have several friends who are currently in their 20th year of serving,” Smith said. “[As a result,] I have a totally different outlook on the pledge of allegiance. We would not have our freedom without those people.”
According to Holder, though the pledge seems new to students and some staff, it has actually been said at the high school level in the past. She explains that it fell out of practice when the school made the switch away from having a teacher lead morning announcements. Despite the initial change, Holder is glad to see the school adopting the tradition again.
“Now that we are aware of the state mandate and we have MVTV [daily announcements] we are good to go,” Holder said. “I am pleased that students and staff have embraced this new moment.”
