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.
The high school nearest my house, which I could see from my driveway before they build the houses accross the street, has over 1000 silver stars on their walls, one for each parent of a student serving in the military. They also have 3 gold stars. Think about the possibility of a gold star to being hung in the window of the kids house.
BTW, my wife is a teacher of teachers (and they chair of her department), she's incensed at this incident. Between the grumbling and "bad attitude", she said something about teachers supposed be treating students with respect, and thus earning respect for themselves.
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.
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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.