Parents Furious After ‘Arabic’ Pledge Of Allegiance Recited At New York High School

School officials at Pine Bush High School in New York said their plan to celebrate national Foreign Language Week by asking students to read the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic was never intend to polarize the community and anger parents and students.

Though school administrators’ intentions may have been good, the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic plan has “divided the school in half,” Superintendent Joan Carbone said.

The reading is “something that was supposed to be good but turned out not to be,” Carbone said.

After a flurry of anger from fiery Tweets to heated phone calls from frustrated parents, Pine Bush High School Principal Aaron Hopmayer got on the intercom and apologized to students who took offense.

Hopmayer’s apology only added fuel to the fire.

Carbone has received more complaints from school district residents who had lost family members in Afghanistan and from Jewish parents who were also outraged by the reading.

It turns out that New York state Education Department regulations specifically mandate that the Pledge of Allegiance be read in English.

One Pine Bush student, Amanda Rebelo, tweeted:

The pledge should always be said in English. They could’ve just said “Good Morning” in a different language each day

— Amanda Rebelo (@mandaalynn7) March 18, 2015

What do you think? Was this a good idea or a foreseeable, foolish boondoggle?