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Student is suspended after refusing to stand and pledge allegiance
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer
INVERNESS -- An Inverness Middle School seventh-grader was suspended from school this week after he refused to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. On that point both his mother and the school agree. But they disagree on whether the student's decision not to say the pledge was the reason the discipline was imposed. William Larsen, 14, was still home from school Thursday while his mother, Antoinette, and her attorney, Jim Cummins, spoke out against the school's choice. Cummins argued that the right not to say the pledge is a uniquely American privilege and that students shouldn't be punished for refusing. He noted that service personnel through the years, including him, have fought to maintain that right. "This is probably a reaction to current events," he said. William's mother said she thinks the school is teaching her child to misbehave so that he can get fun days at home, and she wants him back in class. William attends a special class for students with behavior disorders. "He didn't say the pledge because he didn't feel like it. He didn't feel like standing up," she said. "I'm so frustrated by the school." Inverness Middle School principal Cindy Staten tells a different version of events. Although she cannot discuss specifics, she said: "it has nothing to do with the Pledge of Allegiance." Students at IMS are not required to stand and pledge allegiance, she noted. School district policy states that schools will recite the pledge each day and that students can opt out, with written permission of their parents, said Linda Kelley, assistant superintendent. But for those students who don't have written approval to skip the pledge, principals must use their discretion. Kelley also noted that a student's refusal to follow a directive, whether it be outward defiance or a passive defiance, could warrant a discipline referral. That is what Larsen said was her son's violation. Last week he had gotten a discipline referral for defying school rules by bringing his portable stereo player to school. Then on Monday he wouldn't say the pledge. She said he didn't get mouthy with the teacher, but the teacher still decided that he had been defiant. That referral brought with it the suspension, which should have ended Wednesday. Larsen refused to send her son to school on Thursday because he was worried about retribution. She noted that she recently learned from William that he doesn't like to leave his chair at school because it is his "safe zone." To determine that William was defiant because he didn't do something that he has a right to refuse to do is "just not lawful," Cummins said. Still, he said the hope is that the issue can be resolved short of a courtroom. Cummins said that he hopes to meet with Staten to talk about the case. The mother wants her son back in school, wants him to be able to make up the work he missed and wants to have the suspension wiped off his record, Cummins said. "Our position is one that the Supreme Court decided that a long time ago," he said. Neither Larsen nor Cummins thought the boy was trying to make a political statement through his actions, although Larsen is no fan of the Veteran's Administration because its handling of her late husband's war-induced medical problems. "I don't disrespect America," she said, although she noted that she wouldn't force her son to say the pledge. Larsen said she has asked the school to avoid suspending her son from school because it simply reinforces bad behavior. Before, she said, he liked school. Now that he has learned that defying the rules can get him sent home, he has been defying more rules. "They're taking this child, and they're goofing him up," she said and added that her son needs to be in school. "I'm just so frustrated. This was the last straw."
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