In Las Vegas, 16 year-old Devon Smith was kicked out of class on Monday after refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. The Spring Valley High sophomore, a nontheist, objects to the Pledge’s phrase “one nation under God.” His teacher, Susan Rheinwald, told Smith he was required to stand for the Pledge out of respect, and sent the teenager to the dean’s office when he refused. (However, instead of going to the dean’s office Smith called his mother, who told him to come home.)

“I wasn’t being disruptive,” Smith said later. “I don’t believe we are ‘one nation under God’ as the Pledge says. I don’t believe in God. So I was just sitting there. That is my right.” Smith is absolutely correct. According to several court rulings–including a 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision that the First Amendment’s protection of free speech extends to the right of public school students not to be compelled to recite the Pledge, and several Appellate court rulings in the 1970s that public students cannot be forced to stand silently while others recite the pledge–there is no reason that Smith should have been disciplined for his actions.

Yet it seems that teachers in Clark County, where Smith attends school, are trained to requirestudents to stand for the pledge. Debbie Tomasetti, a coordinator for new teacher induction, said that she interprets school district regulations–which state that students with conscientious objections “shall maintain a respectful attitude through the ceremony”–to mean that students must stand for the pledge.

Clearly, school districts and teachers need better training on the constitutional rights of their students. And not just on the right not to stand for the pledge, but also on what type of religious speech is or is not allowed in school–for students and teachers alike. For your own edification, I recommend this site that gives a general overview of religion and public schools.