Durka-Durka-Muhammed-Jihad!!
Student Suspended for Phone Conversation with Mom....calling from IraqKevin Francois gave up his lunch break to talk to his mother, but it ended up costing him the rest of the school year.
Francois, a junior at Spencer High School in Columbus, was suspended for disorderly conduct Wednesday after he was told to give up his cell phone at lunch while talking to his mother who is deployed in Iraq, he said.If I had been that kid, that teacher would be nursing a bloody nose for attempting to grab the phone...His mother, Sgt. 1st Class Monique Bates, left in January for a one-year tour and serves with the 203rd Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.
"This is our first time separated like this," said Francois, 17, on Thursday.
Bates came to Fort Benning with her son from Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. She enrolled him at Spencer in August. Since her deployment overseas, Francois, whose father was killed when he was 5 years old, lives with a guardian who has five children in Columbus.
The incident happened when Francois received a call from his mother at 12:30 p.m., which he said was his lunch break. Francois said he went outside the school building to get a better reception when his mother called. A teacher who saw Francois on his phone told him to get off the phone. But he didn't.
According to the Muscogee County School District Board of Education's policy, students are allowed to have cell phones in school, but cannot use them during school hours.
"They are really allowed to have those cell phones so that after band or after chorus or after the debate and practices are over they have to coordinate with the parents," said Alfred Parham, assistant principal at Spencer. "They're not supposed to use them for conversating back and forth during school because if they were allowed to do that, they could be text messaging each other for test questions."
Francois said he told the teacher, "This is my mom in Iraq. I'm not about to hang up on my mom."
Francois said the teacher tried to take the phone, causing it to hang up.
The student said he then went with the teacher to the school's office where he surrendered his phone. His mother called again at 12:37 p.m. and left a message scolding her son about hanging up and telling him to answer the phone when she calls.
I understand the need to keep the kids off their phones during school, but you'd think that the administation would cut Kevin some slack considering that the call was from his mother in Iraq.
Freakin dipsticks.
Kid reinstated, teacher got nothing.
And BOTH parties were wrong.
Read more in Student Suspended for Phone Call from IraqYou said it Scoff!!
Rules is rules - I understand that perfectly. Hell, I sometimes wish
Read more in Student Suspended for Phone Call from Iraq
scroff said:
suck it up
Well, yea, that's how I would feel... rules is rules and laws is laws..
Read more in Student Suspended for Phone Call from Iraq
BLACKGLASSES said:
He broke the rules of his school. The context is not important, regadless of who is phoning him.
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Comments on Student Suspended for Phone Call from Iraq
He broke the rules of his school. The context is not important, regadless of who is phoning him.
High schools have dumb rules all the time. Suck it up.
|| Posted by BLACKGLASSES, May 6, 2005 05:24 PM ||suck it up
Well, yea, that's how I would feel... rules is rules and laws is laws...
but there are things the school could have done, considering adults are supposed to have a little bit more on the ball than 17 year old kids...
Like maybe make a big deal out of it, like it is... a special occasion.
My understanding is that phone time in Iraq is pretty damn rare.
This makes me wonder if schools are even aware of which kids have parents or relatives in Iraq. I would think that they'd need a little extra something from time to time... and they should get it.
|| Posted by scroff, May 6, 2005 06:10 PM ||You said it Scoff!!
Rules is rules - I understand that perfectly. Hell, I sometimes wish that the rules were enforced equally across the board. But what I REALLY wish is that the people enforcing the rules would excercise some latitude, i.e. fire some neurons and think before acting.
In the end, I think that the bad press/publicity will cause the principal to re-instate the kid and possibly admonish that teacher for being a prick.
|| Posted by Mad Mikey, May 7, 2005 09:45 AM ||Kid reinstated, teacher got nothing.
And BOTH parties were wrong.
|| Posted by Yogimus, May 11, 2005 12:00 AM ||