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Student suspended over call from mom in Iraq

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LoKyBuckeye

LoKyBuckeye

I give up. This board is too hard to understand.
Student suspended over call from mom in Iraq

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/06/call.suspension.ap/index.html

Friday, May 6, 2005 Posted: 12:54 PM EDT (1654 GMT)

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."
 
there are times in which the rules need to be bent and in this case the teacher should of realized the situation and just ask him to walk outside so that it wouldn't persuade other students to use thier phones while in school.
 
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scarletandgrey said:
there are times in which the rules need to be bent and in this case the teacher should of realized the situation and just ask him to walk outside so that it wouldn't persuade other students to use thier phones while in school.
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agree 100% i would have taken the same stance as the kid
 
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Exactly. I'd be pretty belligerent, too.

The argument that school officials will use is, "If we let him talk to his mother, where do we draw the line with other calls?" Well, how many kids have their mother serving 5,000 miles away in a hostile area? While school official have a point, to a degree, where do you draw the line as far as what is acceptable, or do you say every cell call is forbidden? What if there's a family emergency? It's a perfect case of on one wanting to use any common sense or make an on-the-spot decision...it's too easy to simply say, "Those are the rules", and that's it.

What the kid should have done is told the teacher, "Sorry, I have to take this call from my mother in Iraq, and I'll return to class soon as I'm finished", and walked out of class. If the teacher or any other official tried to intercede, then they're the ones out of line.
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
Exactly. I'd be pretty belligerent, too.

The argument that school officials will use is, "If we let him talk to his mother, where do we draw the line with other calls?" Well, how many kids have their mother serving 5,000 miles away in a hostile area? While school official have a point, to a degree, where do you draw the line as far as what is acceptable, or do you say every cell call is forbidden? What if there's a family emergency? It's a perfect case of on one wanting to use any common sense or make an on-the-spot decision...it's too easy to simply say, "Those are the rules", and that's it.

What the kid should have done is told the teacher, "Sorry, I have to take this call from my mother in Iraq, and I'll return to class soon as I'm finished", and walked out of class. If the teacher or any other official tried to intercede, then they're the ones out of line.
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well first of all you said it yourself not many kids have family in iraq. second, the school obviously allows cell phones on campus for some reason, i can't think of many better ones than this other than informing the police or fire department of some incident. third, there was no class to walk out of...HE WAS AT LUNCH!!. this is a very easy line to draw. aside from the threat of physical violence the school has no point what so ever
 
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I agree with you, Mili, about what the kid should have done. Talking with his mother was, in the kid's opinion, a much bigger deal than what was happening in class. The kid should have walked out of class, probably even out of the school, and continued the call where he wasn't bothering anyone.

However, I also think that "rules are rules." If you break the rules, you need to take the punishment. If you're driving 90mph to get to the hospital because your buddy got shot in the stomach, and he needs to be there NOW, I think that you still need to face speeding charges. If you need to talk on the phone during class to your mother, regardless of where she is (being in Iraq or Afghanistan or at home or in the next room is irrelevant), you need to be ready for the punishment.

If I were in the kid's shoes, I would not have hung up on my mother, and I'd be serving 10 days suspension.
 
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You guys are missing the fact that he was at lunch, not in class.

And the teacher got what they deserved when they decided to take him to the principal's office after he said it was his mother in iraq.

I bet this teacher was a democrat.
 
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I bet this teacher was a democrat.
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Actually I think zero tolerance is a republican thing.

I don't agree with the rules are rules statements. There are and should always be exceptions. The problem is narrowing the exceptions down (so that the rules can still be considered properly promulgated) - this is a case that shouldn't be too hard to figure out. . .
 
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This is another victory for a growing collective mental vacuum in our school systems.

No-one thinks anymore, creativity has taken a holiday, we have knee-jerk reactions instead of action or discretion.
 
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tibor75 said:
No excuse for cussing at a teacher. the punk got exactly was he deserved.
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Being forced to terminate your call, at lunch time, with your mother who is putting her life on the line in defense of her country isn't reason enough to be upset at the teacher? Keep in mind we don't know the whole story as to how the teacher made him end the call...she/he may have truly deserved a verbal assault. Just because someone is a teacher doesn't give them the right to act like a prison guard.



zurp said:
If you're driving 90mph to get to the hospital because your buddy got shot in the stomach, and he needs to be there NOW, I think that you still need to face speeding charges.
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You can get off at trial easily, and that's if an officer is stupid enough to ticket you.
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
Being forced to terminate your call, at lunch time, with your mother who is putting her life on the line in defense of her country isn't reason enough to be upset at the teacher? Keep in mind we don't know the whole story as to how the teacher made him end the call...she/he may have truly deserved a verbal assault. Just because someone is a teacher doesn't give them the right to act like a prison guard..
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True. We also don't know what the kid said afterwards.
 
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