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 ...
I am responding to the individual who wrote "what kind of "mother" would leave her child parentless to go to war".....
Once you're in, you're in the military. They don't take votes..."Hey, TROOPS, let's take a vote here.... who wants to go to Iraq and fight this month"... And take only those individuals. They say to you, "Sgts. Black, White, Brown, Smith and Jones, LCPLs Red, Green, Street, and Lane, Cpls, Purple, Johnson, and Body, you all are leaving on Friday for the sandbox and will be there 12 months." That is it. You don't say, . ....Naaaaaa, I don't wanna go, do I have to? They snap to , say "yes, sir", and proceed on trying to get a million things done in a short amount of time. I just love how people think that because the military is a volunteer one, once you sign the line joining, that it is still volunteer...... To the contrary, your life is THEIRS, all aspects of it. They tell you where you can travel and when (even locations of your vacation have to be approved before leave time is granted), what to make off limits, how your house must look both inside and out, what you can wear even when off duty, get you in trouble for the character of individuals you hang out with in your OFF time, and what you can say to the public at large. Military can't spout off if they don't like something to the press. If you don't like your job, you quit. You quit the military before your time is up, you go to the brig (JAIL). You lose money til they finally release you from your contract AND JAIL.
Most people don't even realize it, but if you "miss a movement", which means that your unit is deploying and you miss the plane, if it is obviously intentional or you in some way try to keep from going such as disappering for a few days or something along that line, you can face the firing squad! Because missing a movement can put the entire unit or mission in jeopardy. Your job may be essential and if you are not there, it could cause the deaths of others.... Lots different than missing that plane to the convention in Vegas or Seattle, no lives are at risk then.....
Some people shouldn't make judgements of something they know nothing about. I know nothing about astrophysics and won't ever think of commenting on something about it, others should do the same about military life.
I'm trying to understand what you're implying here. The mother volunteered for the Army, which is different than the son being forced to go to school. Since she's a volunteer, she can flout authority and get away with it, whereas, since he's forced to go to school, he's not obliged under any standard of conduct to respect the school's authority. I guess that's what you're trying so hard to say. No?
>>When was the last time you ever heard of a teacher being fired for anything short of child molestation?<<
There was a teacher fired this week outside Atlanta for refusing to change a football players grade. He had lowered the students grade because he was sleeping in class - that was against school policy and the teacher would not back down.
Paul from Atlanta
Got an opinion on student suspended over call from Mom?
http://www.misterpoll.com/poll.mpl?id=4165381307
>>The problem is that the schools are run by post menapausal rule followers that get off at the idea of inforcing a rule rather than understanding reality.<<
The assistant principal who handled the case is a male retired army major.
Oh, I see!
This kid is BLACK?
Well, that changes everything.
--Travis--
I don't know if the kid is black, white or fake-tan orange...
But, considering "thug" is the new "N" word (especially on FR) I'm guessing that someone thinks he is...
CNN and others published his picture today
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/EDUCATION/05/07/phone.iraq/story.student.ap.jpg
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/07/phone.iraq/
BTW,
Preliminary poll results
Fire the teacher (33%)
Fire the Assistant Principle for suspending student (28%)
Replace the School board for releasing student's private information (21%)
Mild punishment for student (15%)
Severe punishment for student (1%)
71 total votes
http://www.misterpoll.com/poll.mpl?id=4165381307
Look at how they backpedal!
They had NOOOOO IDEA that he was talking to his mom.
He was SOOOOO out of control they ALMOST called security.
My butt.
If the administration was even slightly in the right
here they would have stuck to suspension for the year.
--Travis--
Closer to the other way around. The mother voluntarily submitted herself to military discipline. The kid did not. Thus she is obliged to obey the lawful orders of those appointed over her. Her son is forced by law to be in school, thus teh rules need take into account that the students are not prisoners, and need to be treated with respect.
Good military leaders treat their people with respect, even when they are tearing strip off of them when they deserve it. Can the same be said for these educational "leaders"?
Ping
exactly my point.
Man you'd make a great communist.
>>This punk kid defiantly disobeyed an established authority figure and rightly deserves his punishment.
Man you'd make a great communist.<<
Like the communists have any monopoly on that attitude - remember what we did John McCain and Oliver North?
Point well taken, I did assume that modern technology would make it easy for mom to coordinate, and that may not be the case. I am heartened to hear that some school administrations facilitate contact with military parents, thank you.
How odd
In today's local paper all the stories about the original situation are gone but there is a story about the assistant superintendent resigning....
They claim she turned in her resignation a week ago and there is no connection to the current controversy...
But isn't Sunday during a crisis a weird time to announce an unrelated resignation>?
Interesting that she was in charge of discipline
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/11592372.htm
>>Brenda Dozier, assistant superintendent of student services for the Muscogee County School District, will resign effective June 30.
Superintendent John Phillips said Saturday that Dozier turned in her resignation about a week ago. He said her notice wasn't a result of the recent controversy at Spencer High School, where junior Kevin Francois was suspended for disorderly conduct Wednesday for answering a phone call from his mother stationed in Iraq.
Phillips said Dozier, 58, whose responsibilities include discipline, special education, student registration, guidance and the Woodall Program, has done a great job in her current capacity since she was appointed to the post in 1994 after leaving the special education department. She has been with the school district for more than 30 years, Phillips said.<<
This is a school with large numbers of children whose parents are in the Army, its near Ft. Benning. The school's policies should adapt to that fact, rather than requiring a separate exception for each kid.
***
Actually, in the school's press release following the incident, I believe it did say the school, in view of its proximity to Ft. Benning and the number of children whose parents are serving overseas, had a policy of bending the rules regarding cell phone calls from those parents if the school was aware thereof -- in other words, the student or someone on his behalf should have notified the school that his mother was in Iraq and the school would have cut him some slack regarding the rule on no cell phone use.
What is your problem?
***
I don't have one, do you?
***
I would have done the same thing if my ONLY parent was in a war zone and I only got to talk to that parent every so often!
You are just as narrow minded as those School Administrators!
***
No, the school has to have rules, to enforce discipline and keep order. It's not being narrow minded, it's being civilized. That said, some rules should be bendable, and this one should have been, but if the student had no prior arrangement with the school allowing him to talk to his mother, or he did not tell the teacher he was talking to his mother at the time (which is what the school is saying), then the teacher had the right under the policies of the school to take that cell phone away from him.
***
It's a stupid policy anyway,since he was on his LUNCH and not in Class disrupting the Teacher!
***
Well, I don't know about you, but when I was in school, during my lunch hour, I did some of my homework and studied. At the time this story came out, it did not specify whether the young man's lunch hour was indoors or outdoors, nor did it say whether he was in close proximity to the other students, some of whom might have been studying.
And your comment that the rule is "stupid" -- well, wouldn't it be just wonderful if each of us decided what rules are "stupid" and just did whatever we please. Think of the anarchy that would ensue.
No, teaching order and discipline in the schools prepares children for life in the real world. If this young man is allowed to do whatever he wanted, he won't be able to hold a job. He will never be a productive member of society. Letting him get away with this teaches him that he can do as he please, no matter how his actions might interfere with the rights of others or perhaps cause them harm.
Tell your Superintendent we all said "Kiss My A**".
****
Uh...I'm not in school anymore. LOL
***
You obviously belong to a Teacher's Union.
***
No, but I know how people with your attitude have managed to turn our children's education into crap.
Our children are graduating from high school uneducated, uncivilized and totally unprepared for the real world. It's the fault of the teachers, the administrators, the parents and our wonderful local, state and federal government. Everyone it seems has his or her own agenda...and that agenda has nothing to do with the education of our children.
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