OXFORD — Patriotism was in the air at Tuesday night’s meeting of the SAD 17 Policy Committee.

Parents and students from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School spoke in support of having high school students recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day, rather than only on Monday mornings. Members of the committee as well as Superintendent Rick Colpitts also took time to express their reverence for the flag and the Pledge of Allegiance.

No new regulations were approved, but Colpitts will write an updated regulation for the policy committee to review at their next meeting.

Diane Cummings, who first brought the issue before the board, said she was disappointed the meeting didn’t result in an immediate policy change.

“I like things done right now. I figured they’d change it,” she said after the meeting. Still, Cummings was confident that students would eventually recite the pledge daily.

District policy says that on “appropriate occasions” students and staff must recite the pledge, but it doesn’t specify how often it must happen. The district and administration of each school is responsible for determining the manner in which students and staff salute the flag.

“The policy itself is fine,” school board Chairman Ron Kugell of Oxford said. The issue, he said, was how administration enforced it.

At the meeting, OHCHS Principal Ted Moccia said he inherited the once-per-week routine from a past administration and would be willing to make it a daily occurrence if the school board instructed him to do so.

Before the meeting, Cummings said reciting the pledge is important for high school students. “It’s even more important that they know why they’re saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I mean, we are in a war.”

Colpitts, who has two sons in the Marines, said he was concerned that simply reciting the pledge was a nod to patriotism that didn’t require students to think about the words.

“There are a lot of things we recite that we don’t really put meaning in,” Colpitts said.

Policy committee Chairman William Colbath asked whether students were being taught the meaning and history behind the pledge.

When committee member Olive Sanborn of Oxford said she felt strongly that students should pledge allegiance daily, members of the public in attendance applauded.

Members of the community, including Cummings, spoke at the beginning of the meeting in support of pledging allegiance daily.

Cummings brought a handout with statistics on state laws across America on requiring the Pledge of Allegiance in schools. She said she had called the offices of U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins seeking a change to Maine law.

Cummings also included a photo of her son David Jones, currently serving in Afghanistan, and read aloud a poem called “The Soldier” by Brenda Jean Baker.

“It’s not that hard to stand up for 30 seconds every day,” OHCHS student Ryan Bolduc said. “When you only say it once a week, it’s almost disrespectful.” Soldiers serving in Afghanistan don’t serve just one day a week, Bolduc said.

The district’s policy also says that students may be excused from reciting the pledge if they submitted a written request. Some religions don’t allow for pledging allegiance. Jehovah’s Witnesses are forbidden from pledging their allegiance to anyone but God.

The next policy committee meeting will be either Nov. 16 or 30.

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