Posted on 05/06/2005 10:15:07 AM PDT by Responsibility1st
COLUMBUS, Ga. -- A high school student was suspended for 10 days for refusing to end a mobile 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. Mobile 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
The kid deserves a suspension. His mom may be in Iraq, I wonder where his dad is.....
If you read the article his Dad passed away when he was five. And let me tell you something. He got out of control because the people of authority are stupid and rigid. He was talking to his Mother outside the building on his lunch hour in Iraq. According to the article he told the teacher what was going on and when she caused the call to be disconnected he got frustrated. I DON'T BLAME HIM. Then, when the phone rang again and they wouldn't let him answer, that's when he used profanity. SO WOULD I. It's called common sense, and the education system has NONE OF IT.
I get the sense there may be more to this than is in the story.
in another thread i found out that his dad dies years ago.
the teacher should have backed off when the kid told her that it was his mom in Iraq. Teach grabbed for the phone instead, which made the kid irate. it would have done far worse to me, and the school shouuld apologise.
that said, for the kid to use this as an excuse to allow his grades to go down is just as dumb.
He gets a call from his Mom once a month, for Criminy sake.
Go back to DU.
Oh yeah, there is more to this story.
A student, while not bothering anyone or anything, decided NOT to give in to power-tripping "authority figures" and their senseless dictates.
Good for him.
wonder who his dad is.....
How do you know that? There's nothing in the article about the teacher being too rigid. The teacher may have asked nicely and several times to end the call....we don't know.
Please post how to contractprincipal & school. What a jerk teacher! Talk about control and power! Give the kid a break. I need email address for school and Principal.
Oops! I meant how to "contact" not contract
See the next post - Daddy was killed when he was five - and his mother can only call once a month. I agree, the kid shouldn't have gotten out of line, but the school should be able to make an exception for a once a month call, Perhaps the school should take a chill pill...
I don't know how you worked things in your family, but my kids were told to be respectful of school authorities no matter how much they (or we) may have disagreed with them. It's part of the disciplinary process that leads to good citizenship and the ability to function successfully in the world. Kids who aren't imbued with the quality of respect generally turn into foul-mouthed, pie-throwing leftists.
Stupidity like that does not even warrant a response.
The kid was on the phone outside, alone during lunch hour. That was on his own time.
His father was dead, he lives with a guardian. His mom, probably the most stable influence in his life was on a rare phone call from a freaking war zone a half a world away. Some stupid chip on her shoulder, overzealous thug of a teacher with no sense at all comes and rips his phone, his property, from his hand and tries to march him off to see the principal. The stupid principal has him so tied up in knots that he misses her next call too.
OK, I'm done ranting now.
Obviously, you have zero knowledge of what's really going on in the public education system.
The teacher caused the call to be disconnected by trying to take the phone away from him. They already knew that his mother is in Iraq, and she only calls once a month. Now that they have a ton of bad publicity they want to make a deal with him.
Public schools are turning into prisons with morons in charge.
"The headline is wrong. The smart-mouth got suspended for being defiant, disorderly, using profanity, getting out of control, etc."
If my mom was in Iraq, and a teacher told me to hang up on her, I might be defiant, profane and out of control, too.
Know why?
BECAUSE THERE'S EVERY POSSIBILITY IT MIGHT BE THE LAST TIME I GET TO TALK TO HER! ! !
When our son was in Iraq, we welcomed his calls any time of the day or night or our personal situation, for the same reason.
POINT IS - The teacher had no right to stop this phone conversation. This boy is suffering by not being with his mom to further the freedoms this stupid teacher enjoys. I can't believe that anybody would be so hateful to hang up on this guys mom serving in Iraq.
How dare this boy break the rules and use school time for talking to his mom risking her life in Iraq. Wouldn't that time be better used getting a Lewinsky in the back of the classroom while the teacher sleeps or sitting in a classroom learning nothing and being socially promoted. I completely understand the schools position - bunch of morons!
Whatever 'it' is, he has zero compassion for the kid or the parent.
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