Sixth Grader in Florida Arrested

It always seems that the strangest news comes out of Florida for some reason. Well, that trend continued last week when a sixth grader was arrested inside his school. Yes, you read that right, a sixth grader. When it was time to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the school day, the student refused, due to his belief that the flag is racist and the National Anthem is offensive, per an article from NBC News. The teacher, who was a substitute for the day, asked the student a barrage of questions which prompted him to explain his reasoning. Well, the boy became passionate and the conversation that started out in an innocent manner quickly escalated.

At this point, a call was made down to the Principal's office because the teacher did not want to deal with him. When this happened, the boy was taken out of the class and he began to make threats while making his way to the office, which prompted the arrest. Although, there is a policy in place within the school that says a student is given the right to either participate or not participate in the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance. Is this right? It appears to me that if the substitute teacher was briefed about this rule then the entire situation could have been avoided entirely. The student was taking advantage of his first amendment right while talking about the flag and the National Anthem, while also using the right given to him by the school to not take part in the Pledge of Allegiance. Even though he did nothing wrong, he was at the very least punished by the substitute teacher when she paged the office. Is it fair to say that he should have been arrested? Well, that is a tough question that should be answered by an expert in law enforcement. My take is that, even though he made some threats, the kid is in sixth grade. It could have been extremely easy to call his Mom or Dad down to the school to pick the boy up instead of calling in the authorities to arrest a child. Again, as I previously stated, the entire affair was preventable.