The reading of the pledge of allegiance in the Arabic language by a bilingual student on Wednesday morning, March 18, had found a sore spot in our modern psyche and produced an explosive reaction. The new Pine Bush School District's Facebook page erupted in outraged and unpleasant comments. The air filled with acrimony.

On right wing media the story was nudged along a trajectory of fear and deceit. Laura Ingraham compared the Arabic-worded pledge to "having skinheads recite the pledge." Other commentators weighed in with similar concerns, and Top Right News, a website devoted to this kind of thing, announced "High School Forces Kids to Recite Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic, Prompting Outrage."

Losing A Student To Suicide PBSD Mourns Loss Of Middle Schooler By Chris Rowley PINE BUSH – The community of Crispell Middle School in Pine Bush was left in shock last week by the unexpected death of eighth grade student Jason Walch. Jason, who turned fourteen in February, committed suicide at his home in the Town of Shawangunk on March 17. He was buried at the New Prospect Cemetery in Pine Bush. The son of Jason R. Walch and Yvonne T. Latour, the boy was born in 2001 in Middletown, loved to play basketball and to race quads. Friends and family were left stunned by his death, as were his classmates throughout Crispell and the wider Pine Bush district. "We all should be open to the fact that it could be any one of us, depending on what's going on in our lives," said Ellen Pendegar of the Mental Health Association of Ulster County, a non-profit group that works on all areas of mental health issues and provides training available in suicide prevention. "We find it is better to err on the side of caution, and if someone sees something, then they should do something." The association also helps people in the grief process and has been working at Crispell throughout the past week. There is a local 24 hour family hotline at 338-2370, and there is also a National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The family suggested that charitable donations be made in Jason's memory to the Walden Humane Society, PO Box 135 Walden, NY 12586.

Closer to home, the reading of the pledge in Arabic caused immediate uproar in the high school, with many students cat calling and booing. Within minutes, text messages and phone calls had carried word of the event outwards, starting it on its global circulation.

However, by this past Tuesday night's Pine Bush School District board of education meeting at Circleville Middle School, the energy had flagged. The usual three dozen attendees were present, only one person spoke up at public participation about the pledge furor and all that Raymond Thurse of the US Army Motorcycle Club wanted to know was "Why the pledge?"

The answer to that, to quote the school district's statement, was simple... "To honor National Foreign Language week and in an effort to celebrate the many races, cultures and religions that make up this great country and our school district the foreign language department planned many activities, including reading the Pledge of Allegiance and morning announcements in different languages this week. The intention was to promote the fact that those who speak a language other than English still pledge to salute this great country."

The students who were supposed to read announcements and the pledge in Spanish on Monday and Japanese on Tuesday failed to fulfill their mission. Thus the first and only foreign language to be used was Arabic.

Class president Andrew Zink, who usually reads the morning announcements and okayed the shift in patterns last Wednesday, ended up finding himself in the increasingly national and then international firing line, along with high school principal Aaron Hopmayer and superintendent of schools Joan Carbone. The school quickly apologized for the whole thing, and Carbone announced that in future the pledge would only be said in English. Both of which actions set off their own reactions, including statements that no language should be ostracized in our nation without any official language, and state law does not limit what language the pledge need be said in, nor make that pledge anything but voluntary.

Michelle Zink, a popular and respected young adult novelist and mother of Andrew, took up the defense of her son after many started deriding his decision to have a Jordanian student read the pledge in her native language, and later contacted the local press about the reaction.

"Following the pledge, Dana (the young lady who read the pledge) was harassed at school, called a terrorist and told to 'go back to the Middle East.' Andrew wasn't vilified until he contacted a newspaper. This was seen as traitorous by many in the district, set in a town with deeply racist roots (it's changing, but not quickly enough) and a history of silence about those issues," she wrote, referencing the current lawsuit charging the district with insufficient responses to anti-Semitism that became a statewide issue two years ago. "The anger immediately turned to Andrew for 'creating an issue by telling the media' and 'talking to the media to get attention.'"

Zink will be studying political science at Marist College come September.

Michelle Zink also wrote, "I can only hope the parents in our community use this as a means to discuss the merit of respectful disagreement as opposed to personal, hate-filled rhetoric. Can we keep talking about this? Can we talk to our kids reasonably, without coloring their minds with our own opinions, about why they feel the way they do? About whether those feelings are a result of reason or emotion? About what to do with the negative feelings when they have them? How did this happen? The truth is, I think Andrew and this issue have become a symbol for a deep-seated prejudice in our country. It's hit a nerve, and when you hit a nerve, it hurts for a reason. Many who have questioned Andrew's motives in going to the media have asked why he did it. The answer, straight from his mouth, is simple: 'I'm really just hoping to start a discussion about what being an American is, and what defines being an American.'"

At the board of education meeting this week, principal Hopmayer went outside to talk to motorcycle club members who had shown up to protest the issue, describing the entire brouhaha as a "teachable moment."

Charlie Carnes, supervisor of the Town of Crawford in which the high school sits, said at the meeting that he saw "immense harm to the town" as a result of this unwanted public exposure, and asked the board to please include the town of Crawford in its plans "before decisions are made on things like this." The supervisor added that he, too, has been fielding angry phone calls for days.

Other responses had already begun exploring the issue. John Kidd, president of the Town of Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, produced a video of Orange County residents reciting the pledge in ten different languages. Michala Rueter, a graduate of the high school now studying at Syracuse University, wrote, "The members of the Pine Bush community have always been there for each other, and that will never change. We are more than a small community, we are a family. We are NOT anti-Semitic, nor prejudiced. The actions of a few people do not represent our entire community, and I will not stand by quietly and fail to support my hometown."

However, others have noted that the furor with strong overtones of anti-Arab sentiments will likely harm the district's position in its battle against the lawsuit alleging a lack of action against anti-Semitism in the district's schools, which is set to go to trial in July.

"It's not our language that makes us American, it's our beliefs," added Zink in an interview with the BBC as this paper went to bed.