The Supreme Court decided Tuesday to consider whether \The Pledge of Allegiance"" is constitutional at public schools nationwide because it contains the phrase ""one nation under God.""
Proponents claim forcing students to recite the religious reference infringes on First Amendment rights.
This Supreme Court consideration comes one year after Wisconsin state law changed to force individual public schools to either recite The Pledge of Allegiance or the National Anthem.
""The policy in the Madison school system is to let the individual school, the principal, decided how that state law has to be carried out,"" said Bill Keys, Madison Metropolitan School Board president. ""At some schools, principals are playing The National Anthem over the PA system at the end of the day. Some classes will [allow students to] stand up as each kid wishes.""
The mandate caused a nationwide uproar as many proponents voiced support of this patriotic effort while opponents said they felt the mandate forced students to recite ideologies they did not necessarily believe in.
""It was truly a nationwide issue. It was covered on Fox News and CNN and everybody else,"" Madison Metropolitan Schools Superintendent Art Rainwater said. ""We got 22,000 e-mails.""
While the Supreme Court decision centers around the same pledge as the Wisconsin law, the California school district that took up the issue did so for a different reason, according to Rainwater.
""The case in California, as I understand it, is really around religion. Here, it was really around patriotism,"" he said. ""[The Wisconsin mandate] was right after September 11.""
While UW-Madison journalism Professor Robert Dreschel said he thinks the year-old Wisconsin law was not the impetus for California's push in the Supreme Court; he thinks if the Supreme Court agrees with the case, the issue will garner similar national attention.
""If the Supreme Court were to uphold that opinion ... undoubtedly there would be an explosion of public outrage,"" he said.
While Keys said he occasionally hears of some complaints from parents who say their children are pressured under the law, Rainwater said outcries against the law have died down.
""It has not been an issue ... on the front burner in our district for a year or so,"" he said.
