On March 13th, the Janesville (WI) Gazette ran an innocuous little story about a National Guard veteran upset that his son had to listen to the Pledge of Allegiance being recited in Spanish over the intercom at the Edgerton High School: by the school's Spanish class. The outpouring of rage from the local community grew so vitriolic that the newspaper had to disable the comments on their blog. The school administrator is now receiving threats of bodily harm because he won't renounce this practice (as it's something they've done since before he even took the job 20 years ago).
From The Progressive Magazine:
For many years now, Edgerton High School in Wisconsin has allowed students in its Spanish class to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish over the Intercom one day of the school year. It also invites foreign exchange students (the school now has three) to say it in their own language.
Hmm. Allow the native-English-speaking students show off their knowledge of the Spanish language (since foreign language is a requirement in High School) by allowing them to lead the pledge? Makes sense to me. The French class does it too - where's the outrage? The student and his father claim that leading the pledge in Spanish is disrespectful to the troops serving in the Middle East right now...11% of whom are Hispanic.
But of course...
Parents complained. They demanded that the Spanish teacher, the principal, and the superintendent be fired. And they intend to press the issue at the school board meeting on April 28.
The Wisconsin State Constitution was originally written in English, Norwegian, and German. The Defense Department celebrates Hispanic American Heritage Month September 15th through October 15th. Even the king of all Conservatives had the National Anthem sung in Spanish at his 2001 inauguration!
I love the Edgerton School District. It's about the only thing I'm going to truly miss when I move out of this little town in the summer to be closer to my job. They have 4-year-old kindergarten, small class sizes, excellent test scores, more challenging options and opportunities for their prestigious students, the list goes on. Also, in issues like this in small, rural communities, it seems like the haters and the bigots have a much more powerful voice than those with...I'll say it, common sense, and logic.
I plan to attend Monday's School Board meeting to show my support for the Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association's Administrator of the Year. If you have a moment, email the school district here and let them know that a decision to not allow the foreign language classes or foreign exchange students to lead the Pledge of Allegiance in another language would not only be disrespectful to every American citizen's heritage (besides Native Americans, of course), but would in fact be a violation of The Constitution.