A Florida teacher who physically forced a fourth grade student to pledge allegiance is back in the classroom following a suspension without pay.
Hernando County elementary school teacher Anne Diagle-McDonald was suspended from her post as an instructor after she grabbed a student's wrist, shoved it over his heart, and made him recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The young boy, who is a Jehovah's Witness, initially told the teacher that his religion barred him from worshipping objects, the New York Daily News reported. He allegedly told Daigle-McDonald that he wasn't anti-American, he simply did not want to stray from his beliefs.
"You are an American, and you are supposed to salute the flag," Daigle-McDonald reportedly replied, according to a statement given to the Explorer K-8 school by the boy.
This initial exchange occurred on Sept. 11, 2013, 12 years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. But the following day, Daigle-McDonald caught a glimpse of the boy doodling in his notebook during the time the class recited the pledge of allegiance. She gripped the boy's hand, thrust it onto his chest, and announced to the other students, "In my classroom, everyone will do the pledge - no religion says that you can't do the pledge. If you don't want to say the pledge, you still have to put your hand on your heart and if you don't want to do that, you should move out of the country."
When administrators caught wind of the event in Daigle-McDonald's classroom, they referred to the Hernando County School Board, who subsequently performed a few interviews with some of the young boy's classmates, all of whom confirmed the account.
School district officials decided the instructor did not respect the student's rights to free speech and freedom of religion. Further, she breached professional conduct protocol and education rules outlined by the state, according to the Daily News.
"She touched a child and that is a no-no," grandparent of a student Donna Walker told local news service WTSP. "She should not be teaching here. She should not be teaching children."
The administration appeared to agree with Walker's sentiments, temporarily reassigning Daigle-McDonald to another job and suspending her without pay. But on Thursday, Daigle-McDonald returned to Explorer K-8 to reportedly resume her duties.
During the investigation, the teacher said the student's mother never specified that she didn't want her kid to recite the pledge.
"His mother told me that he didn't celebrate holidays or birthdays, and I told her that was fine," Daigle-McDonald said. "[I] just wanted all of the students to respect the day. It wasn't a holiday, so I didn't see why the whole class couldn't say the pledge."
