School administrators for a high school in the Hudson Valley are apologizing for having the Pledge of Allegiance recited in Arabic. The apology comes after district residents who had lost family members in Afghanistan complained.
The pledge was read in Arabic at Pine Bush High School during Wednesday's morning announcements, in honor of National Foreign Language Week. Some students were angered and responded with catcalls. District Superintendent Joan Carbone tells the Times Herald-Record (http://goo.gl/jLTyPS ) that she received complaints from residents who lost relatives in Afghanistan and from Jewish parents. The principal apologized to students offended by the Arabic reading. A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounces the apology, and that apology is posted on the school’s website. The district says that from now on, the pledge will be read in English only.
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