The proposal to remove the pledge first surfaced at the board’s organizational meeting last week, but members delayed a decision until Tuesday, WEMU reports…..
“I know I don’t feel comfortable pledging allegiance to a flag,” she said. “And so, I don’t participate in that, so I wanted to bring it up as a formal change to our agenda.”
Council member Roland Tooson was the only member on the six-member board to oppose the proposal.
Mayor Nicole Brown suggested that a “Moment of Silence” to “to center ourselves” replace the Pledge.
But…Clerk Tracey Boudreau brought up the point: A moment of silence could be seen as a prayer by some. Boudreau then suggested an “invocation” to start the meeting.
The council discussed considering “grounding” practices and breathing exercises to replace the pledge.
“Often councils will do an invocation where it could be interpreted as religious, but they would invite a member of a different religious organization to every meeting”