Fargo School Board could reinstate reciting Pledge of Allegiance before meetings

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — Following “significant negative local and national feedback” the Fargo School Board will hold a special meeting on Thursday to consider reinstating the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of board meetings.

The Fargo School board voted 7-2 last week to discontinue reciting the pledge of allegiance. The school board had been regularly reciting it since April.

“It got a lot of people excited, let’s just put it that way. Locally and nationally, we’ve been inundated with emails and calls and a lot of media response. There was so much that it was taking a lot of the district’s time just to even field all of those comments,” School Board Member Robin Nelson said.

The notice for Thursday’s special meeting came one day after Governor Doug Burgum said he wanted all public schools and elected governing bodies in North Dakota to have the opportunity to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

In a memo to board members, School Board President Dr. Tracie Newman recommends the pledge be reinstated.

“It’s much more controversial to remove it than add it. That is loud and clear what our public has told us. People take this very seriously and a lot of people view the Pledge of Allegiance as a uniting statement to open meetings but there are some that feel just the opposite. As they have stated, they feel it’s exclusionary,” Nelson said.

Newman’s memo says a considerable amount of misinformation has been shared about the procedure and how it affects schools.

“It’s only talking about reciting that at board meetings. It has nothing to do with students or schools and so like most elected bodies in the area and across the state, most stand up and cite the Pledge of Allegiance and those that choose not to, don’t have to. That was kind of my reason for voting to keep it in place. Don’t take that right away from me and other people felt differently,” Nelson said.

Fargo School Board member Seth Holden says he doesn’t believe the pledge is appropriate because including the word “God” and no other faiths goes against the district’s policy of inclusion.

“Mr. Holden, you’re getting some attention. Your name’s in the paper. It’ll probably be in the paper tomorrow. God bless you,” Brad Schaefer said at last week’s meeting.

Holden tells us while his position remains the same, there are new factors to take into consideration whether or not reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is in the best interest of the district.

The meeting is Thursday evening at 6 p.m.