Madison School Board braces for pledge night

Madison School Board braces for pledge night
10:08 PM 10/14/01
Doug Erickson Education reporter

Hundreds of people are expected to descend on a 5 p.m. Monday meeting of the Madison School Board to register their opinions on a controversial policy regarding the Pledge of Allegiance.
In anticipation of big crowds, the district late last week moved the meeting from the Doyle Administration Building to the larger auditorium at Memorial High School, 201 S. Gammon Road, which seats about 800 people.
"I think we've become a lightning rod for a lot of frustration built up around the World Trade Center tragedy and terrorist attacks," said Calvin Williams, board president. "There's no place to focus all of that frustration and anger, so if you spot something perceived as unpatriotic, regardless of what the true issue is, people are reacting."
Williams was part of the 3-2 majority that voted last week to instruct schools to use only instrumental versions of the national anthem - not the pledge - as the way to comply with a new state patriotism law. That law requires all schools to offer either the pledge or anthem every day in grades one to 12. Students cannot be forced to participate.
Williams, Bill Keys and Carol Carstensen said their support of the motion was intended to reduce pressure on students uncomfortable with the pledge's "one nation under God" line or the lyrics of the anthem, which some object to as militaristic.
Ruth Robarts and Shwaw Vang voted against the motion, saying that while they shared some of their colleagues' concerns about the coercive nature of the state law, they preferred other ways to implement it. Ray Allen and Juan Jose Lopez were absent and say they do not support the board's decision.
The policy unleashed a national backlash, with the district receiving at least 18,000 e-mails and 2,000 phone calls as of Friday afternoon, said district spokesman Ken Syke.
Gov. Scott McCallum denounced the board as a group of "oddballs," and civic leaders said the city's reputation could be irreparably harmed.
"This has turned into a disaster," Allen said. "People have been calling us every name but the names our mothers gave us."
Allen said he'll push for a motion at Monday's meeting that requires the offering of the pledge in district schools.
But Keys, who authored the controversial policy last week, said he stands behind it and feels no anxiety over the criticism he may receive at the meeting.
"I firmly believe that I'm right, so therefore I'm not worried about it," he said.
Williams said security will be increased for the meeting, although he declined to specify how. "We have some zealous people on both sides of this issue," he said. "We're not expecting anything, but we don't want to have our heads in the sand."
During the public comment period, speakers are expected to each get three minutes, which is the traditional format for board meetings, said Superintendent Art Rainwater.
Depending on how many people sign up to speak, the time could be shortened if the board votes to do so, Syke said. "If they stay at three minutes, they can only hear about 20 per hour," he said.
State Journal staff writer Lisa Schuetz contributed to this report.