Pennsylvania Real-Time News

Pa. student files civil rights suit over refusal to stand for pledge in school

Updated Jan 31, 1:53 PM; Posted Jan 31, 10:27 AM

By Matt Miller | mmiller@pennlive.com

A midstate high school student has filed a federal lawsuit, claiming his school district is violating his civil rights, including his right to free speech, by punishing him because he won’t stand to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. ... The 16-year-old junior, identified in the U.S. Middle District complaint only by his initials, X.F., claims Lebanon High School officials have repeatedly placed him on in-school suspension for his stance.

X.F. claims in the suit, filed by New Jersey attorney Judith A. Gran, that he refuses to stand for the pledge “because of his religious and political beliefs.” ... School district officials declined to comment on the suit Friday morning, saying they have not yet seen it.

According to the suit, X.F.’s battle of wills began during his first-period math class on Oct. 7. When his classmates stood to recite the pledge “X.F. sat quietly and respectfully, causing no disturbance,” the suit states. He claims his teacher told him to stand, and when he refused, he was sent to the principal’s office. ... The principal “interrogated” him about his actions, X.F. claims, and told him teachers check students for compliance with the district’s dress code while they are standing for the pledge.

“X.F. was in compliance with the dress code,” the suit states. His offer to stand for a dress code compliance check before or after the reciting of the pledge was rejected, X.F. contends. ... What followed, he claims, was a pattern of his refusal to stand followed by in-school suspensions. X.F., an honor student and a student-athlete, says he ended up spending every first period in the principal’s office, missed math class and flunked that course.

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