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Saturday, February 08, 2003

By Carmen J. Lee, Post-Gazette Education Writer

Waldorf School of Pittsburgh employees didn't know about the new state law requiring students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. They also were not aware it was supposed to take effect yesterday.

But staff members at the South Side private school said they disagreed with having students recite the pledge every day and with notifying their parents if they didn't.

The American Civil Liberties Union does, too, and filed a lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, arguing that the law violates a person's constitutional right to free speech.

The only flag at the Waldorf School is in the office, where it's usually not seen by the school's 81 students.

"We believe in the freedom of the individual," said Sandy Milczarek, the school's administrator. "We don't want our children to be just part of a nation. We want them to have an identity that's part of the world."

Mt. Lebanon Montessori School officials, on the other hand, not only knew the law took effect this week but also were examining the flags in each classroom to make sure they were the correct size.

"We don't have any problems with it," Principal Adrienne Benestelli said of the law. Mt. Lebanon Montessori has 206 students who already recite the pledge every day.

State education officials agreed to delay enforcement of the law pending a federal court hearing on the ACLU suit next week.

The law, which was passed at the end of last year, requires private and public school students to begin each school day reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or singing the national anthem. The measure allows private and parochial schools to opt out of the requirement for religious reasons. Any student -- attending a public or private school -- can do so on the basis of religious conviction or personal belief, but their parents must be notified.

The ACLU maintains that the parent notification requirement could be viewed as a disciplinary measure that would discourage students from exercising their right not to participate.

The law also requires the American flag to be displayed in every classroom when school is in session.

Of the public and private schools in Allegheny County that were contacted yesterday, it was primarily local public schools that didn't realize the law took effect this week. But because most public school students already recite the pledge, the districts weren't planning any changes.

"We knew it was taking effect, but I don't think it was in anyone's head that it started [yesterday]," said Judi Boren, spokeswoman for the Pine-Richland School District. "We've been working on having a new policy, but we didn't think it would be a big change."

Boren said Pine-Richland is updating its policy to encompass the law's requirements that schools notify the parents of youngsters who decline to participate and that singing the national anthem could be an alternative activity.

Several private schools that knew about the law also said they had planned no major changes because recitation of the pledge is already practiced at their schools.

Winchester Thurston School, a private school in Shadyside, however, did have to buy additional flags to comply with the law.

At the Falk School in Oakland, which holds kindergarten through eighth-grade classes, flags are in the elementary classrooms but not in the middle-school ones. School officials are awaiting the outcome of the lawsuit before buying any flags, said William McDonald, the school's director.

He added that while he believes the school wouldn't have any problems with buying more flags if necessary, there "might be some point of consternation" at having to notify parents if any youngsters did not participate.

The ACLU's Philadelphia office filed the lawsuit on behalf of The Circle School, a private school in Harrisburg; James Rietmulder, a member of the school's staff and parent of a student at the school; and Max Mishkin, a sophomore at a public high school in suburban Philadelphia.

Besides the parent notification requirement, the ACLU and the rest of the plaintiffs object to the fact that the law only allows private schools to opt out for religious reasons.

State Rep. Allan Egolf, R-Perry, who sponsored the bill last year, said he didn't see the difference between parent notification for not reciting the pledge and notification required for other activities, such as psychological testing.

He didn't have problems with the delay in enforcing the law, saying it made sense to wait for the hearing.

Witold Walczak, legal director for the Pittsburgh ACLU, said the case is important because "freedom of speech includes not only the right to speak one's mind, but also the right not to be forced by the government to say things you'd rather not say."

More than 25 states require the pledge to be recited during the school day, according to the Education Commission of the States, a nonprofit national association of state education officials.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.