Arkansas —

FFRF ensured that students in the Nenana City School system in Arkansas would not be punished for exercising their freedom of speech by choosing not to stand for the religious Pledge of Allegiance.

A parent reported that on May 2, their child was reprimanded by a seventh- and eighth-grade teacher for refusing to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. FFRF was informed that the complainant’s child chose to sit quietly and respectfully. However, the teacher repeatedly told the student that they were required to stand for the pledge, but the student refused, correctly asserting that they were not required to participate. The parent stated that the teacher took the child out of the classroom and aggressively admonished them for declining to stand for the pledge, including impliedly threatening to send the student to the principal’s office. This was reportedly not the first time that a Nenana City School teacher had admonished this student over the student’s choice to respectfully abstain from participating in the pledge.

“Public schools cannot force students to recite or stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, nor may they punish students for refusing to participate,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote the district.

FFRF received an emailed response from the district, informing FFRF that the district intends to comply with applicable rules regarding the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, and was actively taking steps toward that end.

The post FFRF ensured that students in the Nenana City School system in Arkansas would not be punished for exercising their freedom of speech. (October 2025) appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.