Anne Daigle-McDonald, a veteran teacher of nine years at the Explorer K-8 School in Spring Hill, Fla., tried to force the student’s hand over his heart during the morning Pledge on Sept. 11.
In line with his religious beliefs, the young boy resisted. Seeing he would not cooperate with her demand, she allegedly said, “You are an American, and you are supposed to salute the flag.”
According to multiple students, Daigle-McDonald admonished her class the following day.
“In my classroom, everyone will do the pledge; no religion says that you can't do the pledge,” she reportedly said. “If you can't put your hand on your heart, then you need to move out of the country.”
The Hernando County School District concluded their investigation this week, issuing Daigle-McDonald a five-day suspension, without pay, and advising her she must attend diversity training.
The teacher “violated a number of state education rules, professional conduct principles and the student's right to free speech and freedom of religion,” the district said.
“Regardless of the circumstances that may have brought them about, such inappropriate actions on your part do not reflect positively on your position,” Hernando County School Superintendent Lori Romano wrote in a letter to Daigle-McDonald.
The law is on the young man’s side. “A 1943 Supreme Court ruling made it unconstitutional to force a child to salute the flag, giving students the right to opt out of the pledge in public schools, regardless of their religion,” says Yahoo.
As for Daigle-McDonald, she said she was not discriminating, but was concerned that “other children might imitate him,” added that her comments were directed only at citizenship.
“I was talking about pledging allegiance to our country,” Daigle-McDonald told a district official. “And if you don't want to pledge to our country, you should go to your home country.” The young boy is an American citizen.
Her comments and actions reflect an underlying negligence in understanding basic religious rights. Other students may also choose not to pledge their allegiance to the American flag; that choice is protected by the Constitution.
Jehovah’s Witness children will stand respectfully during the flag salute, but are politically neutral and do not participate in pledging their “allegiance” to the flag or any other representative object. Although they respect the nation’s emblems, they cannot conscientiously engage in what they consider to be a religious act of devotion. Jehovah’s Witnesses are known for being peaceful, law-abiding and upstanding citizens, but will not compromise their faith and direct their worship – of any kind – to any person, place, statue or object, other than to God.
