Oklahoma News: Stuart Public School Mandates Students to Stand When National Anthem Plays
A school district in Oklahoma has mandated its students to stand when the national anthem is played and has said that it will punish those who will not comply.
Stuart, Oklahoma, which is about 100 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, is said to be a strongly patriotic town. According to the town's superintendent, Tracy Blasengame, people in the said town have a strong respect for fallen soldiers, which became the very reason for the school to adopt a policy that requires the students to stand when the national anthem is played.
"Stuart Public School respects the right of students and spectators to have their political and social beliefs, certainly, and to express those beliefs at appropriate times. With that in mind, all students, student-athletes, and spectators are expected to stand during the playing of the National Anthem at all school events, sporting or non-sporting, without any gestures of demonstration or protest," goes a portion of the policy announced earlier this week.
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Despite the announcement, though, it is unclear how the violators will be penalized as the policy says that students who will be caught violating it will be dealt with differently, depending on the context and circumstances that cause their failure to comply, including religion, age, physical and mental state, and other limiting factors.
However, this early, some already doubt whether Stuart Public School can, indeed, mete out a punishment to any violator of its new policy. While the school may have the best intentions, the policy is said to be a violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference.
"This school district's school's leaders are in desperate need of a First Amendment lesson, one that they are likely to receive swiftly in the event they actually attempt to enforce this unlawful policy," said Brady Henderson of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as he stressed that Stuart's Public School new policy is unconstitutional and unenforceable.
