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120501 Patriot nabbed in 'brush' with 'no Pledge' school board
RED, WHITE AND NYPD BLUE: Shock artist Scott LoBaido is handcuffed by cops yesterday outside school offices and classrooms on West 93rd Street after painting
Old Glory on the wall to protest District 3's stance against mandatory Pledge of
Allegiance ceremonies. School officials did not press charges. Rob Schoenbaum
By CARL CAMPANILE NYP
Education Reporter
As debate raged over the fate of American Taliban fighter John Walker, a patriotic shock artist was handcuffed for painting the American flag on an Upper West Side school building yesterday to protest the local board's anti-Pledge of Allegiance policy.
Scott LoBaido pledged allegiance - joined by at least a dozen kids leaving their classes - as he painted red, white and blue stripes and stars on the entrance to 154 West 93rd St., which houses three schools as
well as the offices of the District 3 board.
The board last week thumbed its nose at the citywide Board of Education's policy requiring all schools to conduct daily Pledge of Allegiance ceremonies. It said each school should be able to decide.
"If you arrest me, you have to arrest the people inside. They're breaking the law," LoBaido said as he was approached by officers summoned by school officials.
Bemused and confused students and staff looked on as the battle over Old Glory intensified.
"I'm doing this for the children," LoBaido said after cops handcuffed him.
Police were about to take him to the precinct house and charge him with criminal mischief, but District 3 board members declined to press charges.
Still, the controversy wasn't over.
Staffers began painting over the flag, then stopped halfway.
"Sacrilege!" LoBaido yelled.
In a screed directed to District 3 officials, LoBaido said, "Either change your position, abide by the law and conduct the Pledge of Allegiance, or I will publicly call on all graffiti artists and creative patriots to paint American flags on every precious building in your district.
"Just because you self-righteous, politically correct, hypocritical radicals refuse to acknowledge what our flag represents, that does not give you the right to not teach children the most valuable lesson of
their free American lives, that our flag equals freedom and unlimited opportunity - and the who, what, where, when and why of how that came to be. All else is second."
When the local board took its unanimous vote to defy the citywide policy, one of its members, Larry Sauer, likened the pledge to the Taliban forcing Afghans to read the Koran.
Yesterday, parent Jose Flores, a military veteran, applauded LoBaido and blasted District 3 for painting over the flag.
"They should leave his flag up there. I don't see any other flag in front of the building," Flores said. "He was honoring the country. The students should do the Pledge of Allegiance."
District 3 chairwoman Ronnie Wattman preferred to talk about other issues.
"The only important thing for District 3 is the education of all children. There's so much going with budget cuts and the taking away of programs for children," Wattman said.
Other parents said they're more concerned with classroom instruction than saluting the flag.
"They should be putting more money into the schools and not waste time with things like this. This is totally obfuscating the real issue," said one parent who declined to give his name.
The citywide policy requires a pledge ceremony but does not force students to participate.