School News

Salk students learn to respect the flag

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There are certain items that can be found in every classroom in the United States — desks, books, bulletin boards and the American flag. The latter was the subject of a program for students at Jonas Salk Middle School on Nov. 14.

About 300 seventh-graders gathered in the auditorium and heard from four members of the United Veterans Organization, which holds flag etiquette lessons as schools throughout Nassau County. A pair of World War II veterans, Joseph Librizzi, who served in the Navy, and Lawrence Pinto, who was in the Marines, were joined by Army veteran Frank Colon and retired Marine Leonard Goldstein.

Robin Insana, a social studies teacher at Salk, said this is the first time the school has hosted the program. “Who better to hear it from than these guys?” she said.

She and her colleague, Samantha McKevitt, arranged the program. Their students are studying American history this year, from Colonial times to the Civil War. Part of their study includes the creation and evolution of the American flag.

Librizzi, chairman of the organization, said the goal was to teach students respect for the flag as well as the history behind it.

In a video, students learned that the flag was created with 13 stripes and 13 stars for the original states. When Vermont and Kentucky were added to the union, it increased to 15 of each. Congress later decided to return the flag to 13 stripes, but add a star for each new state.

The students learned how to properly display the flag, and that is should never touch the ground. They were also taught that four organizations — the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts — are the only organizations authorized to dispose of old flags, which are burned and the ashes buried.

“It’s not a piece of cloth,” Pinto said. “It’s a symbol. It’s a symbol of everyone who went before us.”

Insana and McKevitt noted that the flag is something the students see everyday, and they should understand the significance behind it.