Harrington / Globe photo

The discussion about saying the Pledge of Allegiance at Arlington High School, which began with a bang in June after inaccurate reporting by Fox News, ended with a whimper Tuesday, Aug. 3. A 3-3 vote on the issue in June, portrayed incorrectly by the network as a ban, became a 7-0 vote on the new policy.

Sean Harrington, the AHS senior who declared victory after three years of reinstating the daily Pledge, wept in the hallway outside the School Committee Room after the vote.

"Tears of joy," he said later in an interview after he had changed from a suit jacket into a T-shirt. He had wept in public after the June tie vote, which sent the issue to a subcommittee but did not ban it.

July 25: 2 of 3 committee members explain their Pledge votes

Here is what the new policy says:

"Voluntary Pledge of Allegiance [File JS]

"An American flag shall be appropriately displayed in each classroom of the Arlington Public Schools. The principal of each Arlington Public School shall ensure that every student has the opportunity to say the each school day if the student so desires.

"A student, teacher, or administrator may not be compelled to say or lead the Pledge of Allegiance or punished for not saying or leading it."

The policy cites these legal references: M.G.L. c. 71, Section 69; Opinions of the Justices to the Governor, 372 Mass. 874, 876-880 (1977), U.S.C. Title 36, Chapter 10. 

The new policy means that starting in September, the Pledge will be said daily over the intercom at Arlington High School, where the pledge has not been said for as long as 40 years.

Harrington said High School Principal Charles Skidmore told him he can lead the Pledge on the first day of school.

"I think tonight's vote is a great step for Arlington," Harrington said.

He said he thought in should encourage young people to get more involved than they are.

In late June, after Fox had called the tie vote a "ban," some School Committee members received threats. The proposal before the committee in June would have required that the Pledge be led daily over the intercom in each Arlington school.

State law requires that teachers lead their classes in the Pledge of Allegiance each day, but the Supreme Judicial Court issued an opinion in 1977 saying that it would be unconstitutional to discipline a teacher or student who chose not to say the pledge. The US Supreme Court has also said that making students recite the pledge is contrary to the First Amendment.

School Committee member Judson Pierce, who led the subcommittee that dealt with the issue, said the approved policy was written after consulting with other school districts, attorneys and judges. He called the research "exhaustive."

The policy lets principals to determine how the Pledge will be recited in their schools each day.