New Mexico education commissioner abstains from pledge

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A member of a state education panel that oversees New Mexico's charter schools is abstaining from standing or saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that Commissioner Carmie Lynn Toulouse declined to participate in the reciting of the pledge at the start of a meeting Wednesday in Santa Fe.
Toulouse says she has a problem with the phrase "with liberty and justice for all," explaining that she doesn't believe everyone in the U.S. is getting liberty and justice as a result of the federal government's zero-tolerance immigration policy.
Toulouse says she plans to keep abstaining until immigrant families who have been separated are reunited.
Commission Chairwoman Patricia Gipson says she supports the panel members' rights to abstain from the pledge. Gipson said she shares Toulouse's views on the zero-tolerance policy.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com