WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Selectboard members are considering cutting the Pledge of Allegiance during their biweekly meetings, or at least changing how it’s recited.

In a July 14 meeting, several Hartford board members discussed their concerns over the pledge, specifically the language “one nation under God.” They considered eliminating the pledge and replacing it with a moment of silence, adding an amendment, or introducing a new pledge.

No changes were made at the meeting last week, but board members plan to take input from the public and discuss the question again at their next meeting on Tuesday.

Selectboard member Kim Souza said she is one of three members who opts out of the pledge — along with Alicia Barrow and Emma Behrens — at every meeting. She chose to bring the issue in front of the Selectboard this month following a Valley News column that listed Hartford as one of only four Upper Valley towns that still recite the pledge during Selectboard meetings. Another town, Windsor, is considering whether to eliminate the pledge from its meetings and that selectboard is expected to vote later this month.

“I don’t feel a need for it, I don’t see how it’s relevant to the work that we’re doing,” Souza said, according to a CATV recording of the meeting.

Selectboard member Alan Johnson also questioned the need for the pledge, especially because it references God.

“I have my own understanding of God, and I don’t feel it has a place in my government,” he said, adding that the pledge — especially when recited in schools — can feel “propaganda-y.”

For some, like Barrow, the answer lies in amending — rather than eliminating — the pledge. She suggested putting in an acknowledgment, appreciating “the land we are on.”

In an interview Thursday, Barrow said she has long opted out of reciting the pledge, describing it as a form of indoctrination. But she thinks Hartford residents should have the option to say it during meetings.

“I personally do not feel that taking away the freedom of choice is a democratic, constitutional way to go about this,” she said Thursday.

That freedom should extend to people who decide not to recite the pledge, too, Barrow said. Shortly after she was elected to the Selectboard in March, Barrow said she received an angry email from a Hartford resident, threatening to kill her because she chose to sit down for the pledge at her first meeting. Barrow said she did not report the email but did show it to other board members.

“If we truly are living in a free country, then we have to have the freedom of choice,” she said in the interview.

At last week’s meeting, another new member of the Hartford Selectboard, Joe Major, a veteran, called the pledge a point of pride.

“That particular pledge is aspirational and what this country should be,” he said, adding that he agrees with Barrow that people have the option to sit out the pledge.

In the days since the meeting, Selectboard Chairman Dan Fraser has heard from around seven residents who are all supportive of the pledge, but “very open-minded about exploring other possible options,” he said Thursday.

Some Hartford residents are pushing to keep the status quo.

“If there’s parts of it that people don’t want to say then don’t say it. But, like Joe, it has a meaning to me,” Assistant Town Clerk Sherry West, who has a military background, said at last week’s meeting when the public was asked it for its comments on the matter.

Another resident, Mary Kay Brown, wrote a Hartford Listserv email this week, urging the board to stop discussing the issue.

“If you remove that part of the meeting, then everybody who does believe in the Pledge and wishes to say it out loud is not able to do so,” she wrote.

Next week’s meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday. and residents can watch it live on CATV.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.