Posted on 05/06/2005 10:15:14 AM PDT by jmaroneps37
Mother's call gets son in hot water
BY ANGELIQUE SOENARIE Staff Writer
Kevin Francois gave up his lunch break to talk to his mother, but it ended up costing him the rest of the school year.
Francois, a junior at Spencer High School in Columbus, was suspended for disorderly conduct Wednesday after he was told to give up his cell phone at lunch while talking to his mother who is deployed in Iraq, 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.
"This is our first time separated like this," said Francois, 17, on Thursday.
Bates came to Fort Benning with her son from Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. She enrolled him at Spencer in August. Since her deployment overseas, Francois, whose father was killed when he was 5 years old, lives with a guardian who has five children in Columbus.
The incident happened when Francois received a call from his mother at 12:30 p.m., which he said was his lunch break. Francois said he went outside the school building to get a better reception when his mother called. A teacher who saw Francois on his phone told him to get off the phone. But he didn't.
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.
"They are really allowed to have those cell phones so that after band or after chorus or after the debate and practices are over they have to coordinate with the parents," said Alfred Parham, assistant principal at Spencer. "They're not supposed to use them for conversating back and forth during school because if they were allowed to do that, they could be text messaging each other for test questions."
Francois said he told the teacher, "This is my mom in Iraq. I'm not about to hang up on my mom."
Francois said the teacher tried to take the phone, causing it to hang up.
The student said he then went with the teacher to the school's office where he surrendered his phone. His mother called again at 12:37 p.m. and left a message scolding her son about hanging up and telling him to answer the phone when she calls.
Control issue
Parham said the teen's suspension was based on his reaction when he was asked to give up the cell phone and told about the school's cell phone policy.
"Kevin got defiant and disorderly with Mr. Turner and another assistant principal," Parham said Thursday. "He got defiant with me. He refused to leave Mr. Turner's office. 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."
Wendall Turner is another assistant principal at Spencer.
Parham said the student used profanity when he was taken into the office. He said he tried to work out something with the student. But Francois said he was too frustrated he couldn't answer the phone when his mother called him the second time.
"I even asked Kevin, 'You know we can try to work something out to where if your mother wants to call you she can call you at the school,'" Parham said. "So we've tried to work with Kevin and we're going to continue to try to work with Kevin and his mother and his relatives. In the course of good order and discipline, we have to abide by our policy."
Francois admitted he was partially at fault for his behavior but said he should have been allowed to talk to his mother.
"I was mad at the time, but I feel now maybe I should've went about it differently," he said. "Maybe I should've just waited outside to pick up the phone. But I don't I feel I should've changed any of my actions. I feel I was right by not hanging up the phone."
For Francois, he said he gets to hear from his mother once a month, and phone calls vary depending on when she can use the phone in Iraq. Francois said his mother calls as late as 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. and tries to catch him during hours he's awake. He said the phone call Wednesday was the first time she called him while he was at school.
Francois, who said he's been struggling with his grades in school, wants to go back to school and finish the rest of his year. He fears he may have pay for summer school because of his punishment.
"My grades had been low, but I was bringing them up. My grades were coming back up. On one of my report cards I had like a 'F' in one of my classes, but I brought it back up to a low 'C.' This just brought me all the way down."
© 2005 Ledger-Enquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.ledgerenquirer.com
I have to say that at my school the ending times of certain activities were not particularly fixed. I didn't have a cell phone, but often called to be picked up.
I have to commend the kid for his control, actually. I fear that at his age and under those circumstances, I might have been up on assault charges.
Bless your heart. Keep reading, if that's in fact what you're doing, and at least a few of the questions in your little head will be answered.
Also, under the box for your tagline there's a button that says Spell. You can click that, and it'll spell-check your posts.
So, what happens if after the 10 days the kid refuses to return to school?
Trust me, I complain about many things. Most of the teachers know me and since we are in a small community I get their ( and the administrations ) ear on many things but somethigns I choose to weather so I can wield influence on the more important matters. It is just aggrevating. It is much better than it would be if we lived in a large school district.
IMHO, the knee-jerk jerks who grabbed the phone after being informed who the kid was talking to should be reprimanded. They could have requested to verify the identity of the caller and then let the kid talk with his mom. Sheesh!
Public school teachers and administrators must be the most singularly stupid human beings on the face of the earth. (After cops that is.)
I hope the principal's phone is ringing OFF THE HOOK with negative complaints.
Not to mention that the teacher who took the student's cell-phone should be brought up on theft.
Cell-phone's are not contraband and taking someone else's property is theft.
I remember during Vietnam, when a call to a kid from a parent overseas was routed to the school. The Principal quickly retrieved the kid from class and let him talk on the office phone.
That's my view of a normal response.
This was just being an ignorant jerk.
Yes, you can make the case that he shouldn't have had the cell phone at all, and that could have been the rule...but he clearly wasn't abusing the privilege.
Check this out. There's this thing called a "schedule" that tells the parents how long band practice or football will last.
When the "schedule" says the activity is over, the parents come pick up the kids. It's worked like that for the 36 years I've been alive, and from my mother's account it worked like that for some time before I showed up.
Why are you having such a hard time with this?
Mostly I'm mocking Assistant Principal Parham.
But I'm also mocking parents who think their kids "have to have" cell phones (and new cars and $150 sneakers and a Blackberry and their underwear showing above their pants and so on).
I'm not even making the case that Kevin shouldn't have the phone.
As I have stated at least twice, I am mocking the assistant principal for saying cell phones are a must-have for kids.
I can see even asking to confirm it.
Life is full of new and convienantinventions. Maybe you can start a new cult and boycott everything new, if it is not a necessity.
According to the article, he was killed when Kevin was 5.
Nonetheless, the child broke the rules set forth by the school system and should be punished accordingly. If that is suspension or expulsion, so be it.
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