Student suspended over call from mom in Iraq

[AggieJohn]

COLUMBUS, Georgia (AP) -- A high school student was suspended for 10 days for refusing to end a cell phone call with his mother, a soldier serving in Iraq, school officials said.

The 10-day suspension was issued because Kevin Francois was "defiant and disorderly" and was imposed in lieu of an arrest, Spencer High School assistant principal Alfred Parham said.

The confrontation Wednesday began after the 17-year-old junior got a call at lunchtime from his mother, Sgt. 1st Class Monique Bates, who left in January for a one-year tour with the 203rd Forward Support Battalion.

Cell phones are allowed on campus but may not be used during school hours. When a teacher told him to hang up, he refused. He said he told the teacher, "This is my mom in Iraq. I'm not about to hang up on my mom."

Parham said the teen's suspension was based on his reaction to the teacher's request. He said the teen used profanity when taken to the office.

"Kevin got defiant and disorderly," Parham said. "When a kid becomes out of control like that they can either be arrested or suspended for 10 days. Now being that his mother is in Iraq, we're not trying to cause her any undue hardship; he was suspended for 10 days."

[GOFOR2]

i read this article the other day.
Where is common sense in all this? Why not let the kid talk to his mom who is in Iraq. Hell i would have been irate too, if he actually was, if my stupid teacher didnt let me talk to my mom, who is in Iraq. What the heck is wrong with that teacher?

[AggieJohn]

there are two ways you approach this...

the gofor2 way...just let the kid talk to his mom, make him go outside the classroom and that would be it, yes your breaking the rules

or if you want to be strict with the rules, go about making the kid hang up the phone and inform him of what reprecussions results from this, kind of like the school did, but the school shouldn't have responded with a 10 days suspsension, send the kid home for a day for being disruptive

[TheDOCTORdre]

see heres how i see it, the kid gets the call in lunch, honestly who is he bothering. Now if they were in the middle of class, thats different, but it was during lunch, and IMO a 10 day suspension is ridiculous.

[AggieJohn]

exactly my thoughts

[lepfan]

Originally posted by TheDOCTORdre
see heres how i see it, the kid gets the call in lunch, honestly who is he bothering. Now if they were in the middle of class, thats different, but it was during lunch, and IMO a 10 day suspension is ridiculous.

My thoughts too! There are exceptions -- and this situation would be the exception. Grant it he should not have become disrespectful, but I am inclined to think that he was the only one being disrespectful in his tone.

[j_dog]

Seems to me to be just another example of Zero Tolerance equaling Zero Common Sense.

[BrahmaMom]

What nonsense! It may have been the last time the boy ever got to talk to his mom. I would have been inappropriate in my response, too, had I been in his shoes. I can't believe what happens in schools these days. From the staff and administrators to the students, I don't know who is more out of line. I try to teach my kids to respect adults, esp authority figures but it would be hard to explain this one.

[sinton66]

I agree j_dog. The school is way out of line on this one. Seems some people in this country have no appreciation for the sacrifices that our troops make for us. After all, it sounds as though the mother timed the call to coincide with lunch so she WOULDN'T interrupt any classes. If it was going to be a big deal, why would they allow cell phones on campus at all? What is this? They can have them but may not use them during school hours? That doesn't make much sense. What do they do about emergencies that happen during school hours?

I think this school needs a call from the Pentagon or maybe even the White House. They should definitely re-think this one.

[mustang04]

this pisses me off, i woulda cussed back at the teacher for even TRYING to enforce that rule under the circumstances, thats just crap

[Owen B]

The kid wasn't suspended for the call, but for the way he acted after he was caught breaking the rules. He knew the rules and his particular situation before he took that call. He could have avoided a problem by talking to the appropriate teacher or administrator ahead of time. If they had known the situation, they almost certainly would have been sympathetic and have made some sort of exception in his case, perhaps by allowing him to take the call in the office. The time to ask for an exception is before the need arises, or immediately when the need arises, not after having been caught breaking the rules. The way to ask for an exception is to explain the reasons up front, not to start cussing people out after you’ve been caught violating the rules.

[TheDOCTORdre]

Originally posted by Owen B
not to start cussing people out after you’ve been caught violating the rules.

We dont know that he started cussing out the teacher immediately, how do we know that he did not try and explain his situation to the teacher and the teacher would not listen to his explanation. In fact the report says that he used profanity after he was taken to the office. The way I see it he tried to explain his situation and they just didnt care, which would invokle profanity from me as well

[j_dog]

99% of the time I will back the school administrators. I cannot back them on this one. It doesn't excuse the kids verbal response, but still I think the school owes him an apology, and if anyone is suspended, it should be the school official who tried to make him cut off the call. His mother is defending our country, you and me, and they should have cut him some slack. This is all slanted to the story about the boy. Think how the mother, who is under who knows what kind of stress, would have felt to have had her call cut short.

[Owen B]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/06/phone.iraq/

If this account is correct, the school acted appropriately, in my opinion.

Note the last paragraph. The kid could and should have avoided the problem.

[TheDOCTORdre]

Now I was unaware of the things stated in that last paragraph, but still gotta wonder who was he disturbing by taking the call during lunch