DILWORTH, Minn. (AP) - Three eighth graders in western Minnesota were suspended this week for sitting down during the Pledge of Allegiance.
According to students interviewed by The Forum of Fargo, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High Principal Colleen Houglum was observing a class on Thursday and ordered the three students who sat down during the pledge to report to the office. The boy and two girls spent the day in in-school suspension.
Houglum confirmed in a written statement to The Associated Press on Friday that the three students were suspended for violating the DGF Student Handbook.
She said the handbook says "all students will stand" during the pledge but also says students aren't required to recite it.
Houglum said school officials are reevaluating the policy.
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"It is our understanding that the phrase, 'all students will stand' may need to be modified to address the protection of the individual's form of expression," she said.
"At first, everyone thought that she was joking," said Bishop Edens, a 14-year-old student in the class. "But after a few seconds, she got a little angry and said, 'report to the office now.'"
Edens said the principal told the students it was disrespectful to sit during the pledge, especially with U.S. troops fighting in Iraq.
Edens had planned to sit down during the Pledge of Allegiance on Friday to protest the school's policy.
"I feel I should speak my mind about this whole thing and not have her force her beliefs on anyone else," Edens said. "(Houglum) was talking about how people are fighting in the war for freedom, but she took away their freedom."
Shaun Anderson, whose daughter was suspended, said his daughter was talking to a friend about an assignment and didn't hear the pledge on the intercom. She usually stands for the pledge, Anderson said.
"I totally, 100 percent agree with her," Anderson, a member of the military, said of the principal's decision. "I think any American should believe that."
But Kim Dahl, whose 13-year-old son Brandt was one of those suspended, called the disciplinary action "ridiculous." Her son said his homeroom teacher had never told students about the policy.
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"I thought it was kind of dumb because I didn't do anything wrong," Dahl said. "It should be the people's choice."
