Student Suspended for Call to Mom in Iraq

Newsday ^ | 05/06/05 | AP

[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."

[Texas Mom]

I wonder where his dad is.....

The article said his dad died when the kid was 5 years old.

I think it was handled wrong by everyone involved. Mom should not have called when she knew he would be in school. Doesn't she know the time difference. The teacher could have waited when he heard who the kid was talking to and not come on like gang busters, the kid should have his mouth washed out with soap for using profanities and being a smart mouth.

No one is squeaky clean here.

[Sterco]

You get between me and my kid. Be you cop, teacher, or idiot you will be the first to orbit the locality. Promise!!!

[myprecious]

God Bless You and Your Son.

This post belongs to Ray'sBeth. She is the wonderful teacher and mom, I just posted my appreciation for her. She deserves the praise.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

The kid was talking to his mother during his lunch break. There was no disruption of class, there was no interruption and there was absolutely no problem. The rule he violated was arbitrary and silly. Any reasonable educator....any level headed human being....would have been rational enough to AT THE VERY LEAST allow him to say goodbye to is mum before asking him to ask permission next time.

I don't really care what the situation was at the time, or what the politics of the situation might have been. He was instructed by a school authority to do something that was not outside the bounds of health, safety or morality, and he responded in a totally inappropriate way, violating the known policies of the school. The very least he could have done would have been to politely explain the situation and request permission to continue the call. He evidently chose to respond as most of the posters on this thread would have had him respond, i.e., with coarse vulgarity and defiance of authority.

He evidently believed that the nature of his business trumped the rules of the school that he and the other students were expected to uphold, and further, that his personal cause was so righteous that there was no need for an explanation when he was challenged by the teacher; that the teacher should have known by some process of telepathy that he was speaking to his mother in Iraq and not, say, his girlfriend who happened to be playing hookey that day.

Whether the rule was "arbitrary" or "silly" isn't for anyone to say, except the people directly involved making decisions for that particular school, including the parents. If a rule is not appropriate, it's the obligation of the students' parents to take up the issue with the school authorities; not for the students themselves to misbehave in a vulgar and disruptive fashion. Minor children need to learn how to respect, not only authority, but other people, and comport themselves in a civilized manner in the face of standards with which they might not necessarily agree. Which, incidentally, is the first prerequisite for those wishing to serve their country in the military.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It sounds rather odd that the teacher who interfered claims to have no clue that this was the boy's mama on the phone. A kid doesn't usually chat with a buddy or a girlfriend in the same manner he talks with a parent. I wonder if the teacher has some, er, issues of his own.

[HiTech RedNeck]

that the teacher should have known by some process of telepathy that he was speaking to his mother in Iraq and not, say, his girlfriend who happened to be playing hookey that day.

Haw, haw, haw, a lad in his teens talks to Mama like he talks to his classroom crush. Tell me another good one! ROFLOL

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Haw, haw, haw, a lad in his teens talks to Mama like he talks to his classroom crush. Tell me another good one! ROFLOL

You remind me of these people in the inner cities who riot when some punk pulls a toy gun on a cop and the cop blows him away. "Haw, haw, haw, a lad in his teens pulls out a toy gun and the cops think it's real. Tell me another good one! ROFLOL

[HiTech RedNeck]

Well in this case you have all of the fumes and none of the reality on your side. The very nature of the conversation should have clued in any attentive teacher (who's not just a grease spot in a gummint sinecure).

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Well in this case you have all of the fumes and none of the reality on your side. The very nature of the conversation should have clued in any attentive teacher (who's not just a grease spot in a gummint sinecure).

No, not necessarily. You make a large assumption there, which isn't warranted by what we know about the situation. And even if it did, the teacher was within his rights, and the kid had no call to become vulgar and abusive. He's obviously a snot-nosed brat who thinks the world revolves around him. And given the circumstances, you can be sure that this wasn't the first time he's had this kind of run-in with the administration.

You may not like the public schools, but for those who are obliged to attend them there's only one thing worse than an administration who would do this kind of thing to one of its students, and that's an administration who wouldn't do this kind of thing to one of its students.

[Lower55]

His mother was killed shortly after the interrupted phone call.





That could have been a headline. I hope it doesn't become so.

[Republican Wildcat]

The kid deserves a suspension. His mom may be in Iraq, I wonder where his dad is.....

You know so much about the case to pass judgment on this kid, yet you couldn't be bothered to read the article you posted.

[Republican Wildcat]

Thank you for posting that information.

[HiTech RedNeck]

He's obviously a snot-nosed brat who thinks the world revolves around him.

Ahem, we have proof he was not: he obeyed his mother.

NEXT!

[Republican Wildcat]

It is indeed outrageous. His father has already been killed, and that could have been the last conversation with his mother - and this is the memory they have possibly created. These people have serious problems.

[Republican Wildcat]

I'm with you this time, Hildy.

[Sally'sConcerns]

I haven't read all 179 posts yet. But has anyone asked what kind of "mother" would leave her child parentless to go to war?

How about a mother whose husband died when her child was 5 years old? How about a mother who chose to join the Armed Forces in order to better herself and take advantage of the benefits?

It's people like you who expect people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps when hard times hit and then you choose to slap them down when they do pull themselves up.

[Sally'sConcerns]

Yes, I read the press release and I have an extremely difficult time in believing the following:

When the Spencer teacher approached the young man about using a cell phone on campus, contrary to Board of Education policy which is designed to preserve instructional time and decorum in our schools, the young man did not tell the teacher he was speaking to his mother in Iraq

You expect me to believe a press release designed to make the school's actions rational and understandable? You really expect me to believe the kid wasn't hollering about talking to his Mom in Iraq? I suppose you think the kid just went off on the teacher for no good reason. Here's a newsflash for you! I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday.

Of course the school has a different version of events. Duh! Funny how they didn't stick to their original 10 day suspension once the story hit the press. Wonder why they changed their mind about the length of the suspension, especially if it was a righteous punishment.

Just what is proper decorum when your Mom calls you from Iraq which she's only able to do so once a month? How should the child have acted when the teacher told him to terminate the conversation especially as the child was on his lunch period. Have I not read the child went to a quiet place in order to carry on the conversation with his Mom?

Do you understand Mom can't just pick up the phone whenever she feels like calling?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

News I think

***************************************

Posted on Sat, May. 07, 2005

Suspension reduced for student who took call from mom in Iraq

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Muscogee County School District has reduced the suspension of a student who refused to end a cell phone call from his mother who is serving in Iraq.

Kevin Francois, a 17-year-old at Spencer High School in Columbus, was given a 10-day suspension for disorderly conduct Wednesday after a confrontation that began when he was told to give up his cell phone at lunch during the call, he said.

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.

But on Friday, the school district reduced the suspension to three days, which will allow Francois to return to school Monday. That means he will not have to make up the entire semester, as he had feared.

"We are empathetic to all students whose parents serve in the armed forces ... (but) we do have behavior standards which we uphold," said Muscogee County school Superintendent John A. Phillips Jr.

Francois got the unexpected call from his mother at 12:30 p.m., which he said was his lunch break. He said he went outside the school building to get better reception. A teacher who saw Francois on his phone told him to hang up. He refused.

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.

School officials said Francois became defiant and used profanity when asked to hand over the phone.

Since the incident was first reported, school officials have received many phone calls, said Wendell Turner, an assistant principal.

"People are fussing at us, calling us names," Turner said.

There are many students at the school who have parents serving overseas, Turner said.

"We are the school that serves Fort Benning," Turner said. "We're well aware of students with parents overseas. Some will just call the school if they want to talk to their sons or daughters. We'll gladly get the kid out of class."

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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com