NEW YORK, March 25 (UPI) -- A New York City school decided to start reciting the Pledge of Allegiance after a student's parents said they were shocked that she did not recognize it.
Joe and Winnie Fischer told the New York Daily News their daughter Brianna, 8, recently saw a class saying the pledge on a TV show.
"She asked what they were doing," said her father. "I was shocked that she didn't know the pledge. I thought she'd been doing it in school."
The couple met with Melanie Woods, principal of Public School 29 in Brooklyn. She agreed to have the pledge broadcast over the public address system after contentious meetings with teachers and parents.
New York state law dictates that schools lead students in the pledge daily, but students cannot be forced to recite it or stand.
"The bottom line is we don't want children to feel uncomfortable about their decision to say it or to refrain from saying it," Woods said. "It's a huge teachable moment."
A Daily News check of 10 public schools across the city found only half reciting the pledge every day.
