A Pennsylvania school was refused medical treatment after she exercised her right not to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. Opting out of the Pledge is a Constitutionally-protected right, and this right has been upheld numerous times. But the Carlisle Area School District decided that if they couldn’t force the eighth grader to stand for the Pledge, they could ban her from receiving medical aid from the school nurse.
Last week, the American Humanist Association, issued a letter to the Carlisle Area School District, demanding that they apologize to the girl. AHA attorney Monica Miller said that their organization was contacted by the eighth grader who reported the mistreatment and discrimination by the school, after she refused to stand for the Pledge on April 2nd of this year.
“Why didn’t you stand for the Pledge?” the school nurse reportedly demanded. The question was vocalized belligerently and loudly by the nurse.
The student asserted that she had a Constitutional right not to participate in the Pledge.
“Fine! Then leave! I have the right to not service you!” the nurse shouted in response.
Miller adds that, “the student reports that she left the nurse’s office in tears and went to the administrative offices to call her mother.”
She was led to the office to call her parents, but the nurse appeared again to bark, “‘She isn’t calling a parent until I have a long conversation with her!’”
The school guidance counselor then showed up and “showed some sympathy,” by saying that the student could wait in the hall during the Pledge. But the student declined the invitation, explaining that there was already case law surrounding this right and that she was under no obligation to leave the room during the Pledge.
“The student politely tried to explain that she is under no obligation to stand in the hallway as such, to which the counselor replied that it was ‘district policy,’ apparently unaware that ‘district policy’ does not trump federal law,” Miller added.
“The actions of the nurse are indefensible,” Miller continued, speaking on behalf of the AHA. The nurse “provides an example of the kind of overzealous, dangerous patriotism that any true patriot would loathe. The student was left angry and scarred by this mean-spirited hostility, which is only made worse by the fact that it came from a person trusted with the health and well being of students. Moreover, the nurse’s refusal to give the child medical attention calls into question her fitness for the job,” Miller concluded.
The school, for their part, issued a statement, saying that they are “investigating”
Watch the video below from local WHTM…