North Carolina State Board of Education Member, Reginald Kenan, seems to think that having the debate of whether North Carolina school kids should stand or not for the Pledge of Allegiance is a ‘waste of time’.

Kenan, a Bev Perdue appointee,  appears to compare it to the national embarrassment of NFL players not standing for the National Anthem in his remarks.

While I personally do not believe anyone should be compelled to stand for the Anthem or for the Pledge of Allegiance, I believe there are countless more reasons to rise and honor these national institutions and ideals than to sit for.

Perhaps that is the message that we should be sending and Mr. Kenan might want to consider.

Here’s the transcript of the portion of the State Board meeting where his remarks take place. If you want to listen for yourself, his remarks begin just after the 2-hour mark.

I’d like to comment on one bill you’re talking about…the flag and students that pledge… are standing or whatever. One concern I can see already – I’m on a local school board as well and of course the local board will have to deal with the issues – it talks about the flag and, of course, I personally respect that, but it also says that a student can’t be compelled to do that. O.K.?

So, what happens when most the kids, some are standing, some not…um, you gonna have chaos by having one of the students decide not to stand because the statues say you don’t have to. So, that teacher has to be willing to understand that too.

So, at the local level, we have to deal with those issues because of teachers personal feelings can’t dictate a student’s right not to stand or honor or…so…those kind of issues I can see coming already and I guess the point I am trying to make is I hope we continue to make laws that are not divisive but put us together. And that law can really cause some divisiveness because of it. 

Of course, we all know that is an issue throughout America now – whether you stand or you sit. I just foresee that being a big problem in our school system with wasting time… and that time should be spent on instruction and not just decide whether that kid is right or wrong about sitting in that chair.