November 2, 2021
Article 2 of California’s education code, Patriotic Exercises and Instruction, states that “in every public secondary school there shall be conducted daily appropriate patriotic exercises.”
The law also stipulates that every public elementary school must also complete a daily patriotic exercise at the beginning of the first regularly scheduled class or activity period. Article two makes clear that “the giving of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America shall satisfy the requirements” of the daily patriotic exercise for both elementary and secondary schools.
The law lists no other specific ways to satisfy this requirement. However, it also does not specify that different methods of meeting this requirement are not permitted.
Carlmont does not require the Pledge of Allegiance to take place every morning; Carlmont’s principal, Ralph Crame, has found a work-around solution to meeting the non-specific daily patriotic exercise requirement.
According to Crame, Carlmont raises the flag every morning at 6:30 a.m. Students are invited to the raising of the flag but are not required to go.
“Anybody’s welcome to come and say the Pledge of Allegiance as the flag goes up. That’s something nobody really does but is also something that’s available to all students,” Crame said.
However, this option is not available for elementary schools due to the requirement that the patriotic exercise must be conducted “each day during the school year at the beginning of the first regularly scheduled class or activity period at which the majority of the pupils of the school normally begin the school day.” Many elementary schools either perform a school-wide Pledge of Allegiance or disregard the law entirely due to a lack of enforcement of the law.
In addition to the requirement for patriotic exercises, the Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD), has mandated curriculum surrounding the founding documents of the United States such as the Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, and the United States Constitution. All of which are part of mandatory reading.
Greer Stone, a history teacher at Carlmont and a Palo Alto City Council member, believes that the documents are essential to American education.
“I think the requirements [of reading certain American documents] make sense because those are foundational documents that every American should know and study and appreciate,” Stone said. “Having that understanding of our history and those foundational principles are the key for any functioning democracy.”
Crame agreed, noting that those documents are an important part of American history.
“I think it’s important that we understand as students what those documents are, how they came about, the reasoning behind them, and how they affect us as a people,” Crame said.
Carlmont mainly integrates these founding documents into senior year with the U.S. Government class; however, the U.S. History course in junior year briefly covers them.
Finally, the SUHSD requires Carlmont to assist students in voter registration and provide appropriate information. According to Crame, voter registration paperwork is given out to seniors in their second semester during their U.S. Economics classes. In previous years, students would also volunteer during elections as poll workers.
Along with this, the SUHSD requires a staff member to be appointed head of voter registration efforts at each high school and “determine the most effective means of distributing voter registration forms provided by the Secretary of State.”
Crame described how the voter registration cards were distributed through Carlmont’s appointed staff member in charge of voter registration efforts, Jayson Waller, head of the history department at Carlmont.
“I get the [voter registration] cards sent to me and I forward them to Mr. Waller. He distributes them out to the [other] teachers to give to our students,” Crame said.
