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Student who refuses to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance expelled, Texas attorney general backs sch
Months after a student was expelled for refusing to stand for her school's Pledge of Allegiance, the Texas Attorney General is intervening on the school's behalf.
The mother of Windfern High School senior India Landry launched a legal battle against the Houston-area school, saying her daughter wasn't able to practice free speech.
India, now 18, was sent home last year after sitting during the pledge. Her mother, Kizzy Landry, said when she came to pick up India, the school provided little details as to why her daughter was kicked out. Later, the principal told the mother"She can't come to my school if she won't stand for the pledge."
India said she sat during the pledge before this incident, and wasn't punished.
“I don’t think that the flag is what it says it’s for, for liberty and justice and all that. It's not obviously what's going on in America today," India said last year.
According to Texas law, students must recite the pledge unless they have a parent or guardian's permission to opt out.
Houston attorney Randall Kallinen has filed a federal lawsuit on Landry’s behalf. He argues that free speech protections also apply to silent protests.
"Schoolchildren cannot unilaterally refuse to participate in the pledge,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement this week, noting that Texas is one of 26 states with similar Pledge statutes. "Requiring the pledge to be recited at the start of every school day has the laudable result of fostering respect for our flag and a patriotic love of our country."
Kallinen has dismissed Paxton's involvement as a political move, saying he's confident his client "will prevail and she will once again be able to sit for the pledge of allegiance."
Courtesy of USA Today
