posted April 22, 2008
An attorney said a Tyner Academy senior was told Monday she would be suspended for 10 days for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Attorney Jesse Dalton said county school officials eventually lifted the punishment after he pointed out a state law declaring that students cannot be compelled to recite the Pledge.
Attorney Dalton said if Quinesha Garrett had been required to undergo a 10-day suspension, she would not have been able to graduate.
Attorney Dalton said he was contacted about the matter on Monday and found the student was "effectively suspended from school. She was allowed only to attend night classes by Assistant Principal Hargrove. The reason for this discipline was that Ms. Garrett practiced her Constitutional and statutory right to remain seated and quiet during the pledge of allegiance. The result of this suspension could have cost her the opportunity to graduate, since the 10 days she would be out would exceed the school’s limit for absence before graduation."
The attorney said, "T.C.A. 46-1-1001(c)(1), in relevant part, states that 'Each board of education shall determine the appropriate time during the school day for the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance… However, that no student shall be compelled to recite the Pledge of allegiance if the student or the student’s parent or legal guardian objects on religious, philosophical or other grounds to the student’s participating in such exercise. Students who are thus exempt from reciting the pledge shall remain quietly standing or sitting at their desk while others recite the pledge of allegiance, and shall make no display that disrupts or distracts others who are reciting the pledge of allegiance.'”
Citing this law from the Tennessee Code, Supreme Court cases, and other case law, attorney Dalton said he contacted Assistant Principal Hargrove who became angry and stated that ‘It absolutely was the law..that students were forced to stand for the pledge.’
When attorney Dalton attempted to read the statute to Assistant Principal Hargrove, the latter "abruptly ended the conversation by hanging up."
Attorney Dalton then called Principal Paula Goss, who he said "seemed uninterested in the issues, stating that ‘she had far too busy a day to become involved.’"
AAttorney Dalton said he then called the Hamilton County School Board to advise them of the issue. He said he spoke with an attorney "who reluctantly agreed, but did not seem inclined to act. When asked what could be done about Ms. Garrett’s situation, the attorney, who did not provide his name, stated that he would 'pass the information along to his superiors.'”
Attorney Dalton, saying he had received no definitive resolution, said he contacted Ms. Garrett and obtainer her permission to pick her up and take her to the school.
He said, "Principal Goss had been contacted by the school board office, who determined that the suspension was invalid. Since the suspension has been lifted, Ms. Garrett will be permitted to return to class tomorrow, and all mention of this incident will be removed from her records."
The attorney said Ms. Garrett says that she will continue sitting down during the Pledge of Allegiance "because she doesn’t feel compelled to pledge her allegiance to anything except to God, and because, she says, she is bothered by what the United States is doing in Iraq."
Ms. Garrett played basketball, volleyball and other sports for Tyner, and will graduate in May.
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