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 ...
They are desparately trying to spin the situation. They cut off his rare phone call with his mother and now they are trying to act like they are the good guys.
beeler is the new face of FR
NOT enough.
the authoritarian violators of the student and parent's rights, should be suspended for 30 days without pay... and charged with assault.
The zero tolerance, authoritarian social system running our schools must be punished for its excesses in a VERY VERY public way, or the 'jail for taking a midol' syndrome is just going to continue to grow more and more abusive.
What we need to see here is an example made of administrators and teachers who violated the parent's and student's rights. Personally, I would like to see the individual who hung up his mother's call do some jail time... and given a permanent criminal record for their abuse of power.
All right! I hate to say it, but fear/apprehension is a powerful tool. My mom used the "you just wait till your dad gets home" on us. Dad hated it cos he got a list of all our transgressions as soon as he walked in the door (sometimes mom was done before we started dinner, most times not!)
I learned that if I went around our small town and found him, told him the truth of my awful crime, and took the punishment with no tears, I could cut my groundings and phonelessness times in half! To him, it was all about the truth.....oh, yeah, and he used to walk up the stairs dragging his belt...the click of the buckle on wooden stairs.....hell, Freddie Kruger had nothing on my old man!
the teacher is lucky the childs mom or dad wasn't a marine who taught their kid self defense, a sweep to the knees and a collapsing thrust to the trachia, would have made short work of the teacher, as soon as he or she assaulted the 17 year old.
teacher was way out of line.
so is the school.
and profanity is something soldier's don't use?
wouldn't advocate?
please.
freedom of speech, including swearing like a marine, is part of our rights they are defending.
get a clue.
Whose authority is morally superior: that of the parent, or that of the state? The child was trying to uphold his mother's authority.
My attitude with respect to our public school system can be summed up in four words:
The parent is God.
If we are to be compelled to pay for these people to educate our kids, then they work for us. We are not talking about a private institution, but one for which we are forced to pay. It's simple: the parental rightand I stress, rightto contact their child countermands any "zero-tolerance, we adminstrators art mightier than thou unwashed" school code.
If a parent in Iraq wants to contact their child, the school must not interfere.
The parent is God.
If a parent wants to contact their child and get him/her to the hospital before the other parent dies, the school must not interfere.
The parent is God.
If a parent wants to demand that educators not attempt to indoctrinate their child into their way of political thinking, then the educators shall not do so.
The parent is God.
Educators need to understand this. The parent is God, and they are nothing. They are hired help, and forcibly hired help at that. As such they are less then nothing. There is no proper response to a parent save, "yes, sir/ma'am, we will carry out your wishes immediately."
THE PARENT IS GOD.
EducRATs need to start discovering that enforcement of zero-brain policies is even more hazardous to their careers than non-enforcement.
A superior authority told him to continue talking, and he did all he could to comply.
There was a time, when that was policy.
Regardless of the policy... the truth remains the same.
The parent is not technically God, the almighty, but I get your meaning.
Unfortunately, the educational system thinks IT is the boss, and there IS no God... and they continually blame the parents for their bad work product. "these parents are not involved like they should be" type of stuff. Baloney. Badly performing teachers and local schools are evidence of an educational system problem.
We need to get the socialists out of schools and into rehab in order to fix the problem. They are addicted to power over others. And that goes for most public sector government jobs. THEY feel invincible.
If it was my kid I would have expected the teacher who assaulted him to be properly restained by my kid, marched to the office, and charged with assault when the police arrived.
I'm glad you got my metaphor. After I posted it I worried that someone might take the text literally.
I have not read all the replies, but have read the article and know exactly where I stand. This kid should have been allowed to take a call at any time from his mom. I don't care what the rules were at the school.
I have to tell you that I'm a teacher--one who broke rules keeping my cell phone on in class last year. Yes, I received two precious phone calls while in class--and talked to my son in Iraq and let the kids cheer him too and ask questions. Was it worth it? Yes.
There are rules, but there is also compassion and common sense. If someone had cut me off and taken my phone while doing that (and they were very short calls), I would have probably been very tempted to become defiant, disorderly, and out of control too. This has really "pushed my buttons."
The guy's efforts to follow his mother's orders were not as well thought-out as they could have been, granted. But fundamentally, the parent's authority is morally superior and the kid was trying (even if indecorously) to uphold it.
Agreed.
His dad is dead!
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