FARGO, ND (AP) — The school board in North Dakota’s largest city will reconsider its decision to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at each of its meetings, after the move drew widespread criticism and threats of retaliation. by some conservative state legislators.
Fargo Board of Education President Dr. Tracie Newman told board members in a memo that she believes the pledge needs to be reinstated because the flood of “local and national negative feedback” could cost time and resources. before the new school year. She called a special meeting for Thursday.
Fargo’s board voted 7-2 last week to overturn a previous edict of the board beginning in April to recite the pledge before each meeting. The board includes four newcomers from the June election. In deciding not to recite the pledge, the board said the move did not align with the district’s diversity and inclusion code, largely because it says “under God” in one sentence.
Robin Nelson, one of two board members who voted against abandoning the oath, said no one complained after the panel began reciting the patriotic vow. But since last week’s vote, the board has received “hundreds and hundreds of emails and phone calls locally and nationally,” he said. She has personally listened to state legislators who have threatened revenge.
“I knew it would be controversial. I knew the repercussions were pretty predictable,” Nelson said.
Republican Gov. Doug Burgum on Monday proposed a bill aimed at “ensuring there is an opportunity to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, as other states have done.” State Rep. Pat Heinert, one of three Republicans working with Burgum, wants to require all local boards and commissions to recite the oath.
“It provides a good lens for civic education in North Dakota,” said Heinert, a retired county sheriff. “We require people who come to our country to pass a civics test and that’s part of that. Elected governing boards should show that we believe in our own country. We believe in our Oath of Allegiance”.
The foray into local politics by state Republicans has drawn criticism from Democrats. Rep. Josh Boschee of Fargo, the House Minority Leader, called warnings to cut programs or funding “the worst form of politics” and said Burgum’s proposal is inappropriate and unnecessary.
“I have no reason to believe that those threats are not real because I have heard threats like that in the halls of the legislature and in one-on-one conversations with my legislative colleagues,” Boschee said. He said boards that oversee schools, cities and counties constantly fear retaliation from the GOP-controlled Legislature “through public policy and funding threats.”
Another Fargo lawmaker, Republican Rep. Jim Kasper, said he’s happy the board is giving him a second look.
“The composition of the school board in the last election attracted five liberal-thinking members from what I recall,” Kasper said. “And so liberals have a different agenda than moderate or conservative people, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans.”
School board and Fargo City Council members run on a nonpartisan ballot, which does not reveal party affiliation.
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