Handbook pledge rule to allow students to opt out

Students have the right to refrain from saying the Pledge of Allegiance, but the Palm Beach County School District will no longer be posting notices on campus to let them know.

Instead, it will be detailed in the student handbook, the School Board agreed at a workshop on Wednesday.

The move allows the school district to comply with a state law passed last year on how to notify students of their right not to say the pledge.

Florida students recite the pledge every day. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that students could not be forced to say the words. In a Palm Beach County case in 2008, a federal court said students also did not have to stand.

The case involved a Palm Beach County 11th grader who sued after he was “punished and ridiculed” by his teacher for refusing to stand while his classmates recited the pledge.

Students must have parental permission to be allowed not to participate. This includes declining to stand and declining to place their hands over their hearts. The law says students who lack a written excuse must stand up for the pledge and males must remove their “headdress,” unless they wear it as part of their religion.

Miami-Dade schools approved a similar new pledge notification policy, while Broward already posts the notice in the student handbook.