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OAK PARK, Calif. — The superintendent of a Southern California high school apologized to a atheist high school student who said his teacher made him stand while his class recited the Pledge of Allegiance against his will.

The apology came after a ninth-grade student at Oak Park High School said that he was “intimidated” by his teacher into standing with the rest of his class while they recited the pledge, the Los Angeles Time reported.

The student, whose name was not made public, complained about the incident on at website run by the American Humanist Association. The association reported the complaint to the school district and informed school officials they were violating the boy’s 1st Amendment rights.

School officials said it as a mistake to force the boy to stand during the pledge if he objected to the passage that describes the U.S. as “one nation under God.” They apologized and said students have the right to remain seated during the pledge.