Posted on 05/07/2005 7:54:12 AM PDT by Teflonic
He is dead, as of 5 years ago.
Maybe the grief from being widowed at a young age caused the woman to overeat as she apparently has.
I just don't see that her appearance has any bearing on the case, and if her husband isn't in Iraq, the spouses of other teachers & staff at that school are.
The student said in at least one article that he did not tell the teacher he was talking to his mother, although other articles say he did, and he's been identified as a chronic behavior problem, which he also admits. IF he'd generally been a nice, well-behaved kid, the teacher might have given him the benefit of the doubt.
IF he'd followed school rules and had his phone turned off, this never would have happened. He wasn't expecting this call from his mother, and she usually called at night.
You know, of course, that on caller ID calls from Iraq appear to originate in the United States? Or have you ever received one?
Thanks for catching my typo/brain fart. Obviously that line was supposed to read "I never said the person in authority wasn't wrong."
I guess that should teach me to listen to my body when it is screaming for sleep at 12:36:19 AM.
Yet, how perceptive of you to be able to determine that I was intentionally contradicting myself and not simply guilty of poor proof-reading.
Second, I would neither place nor recieve a call in a courtroom. Cell phones could be used to intentionally disrupt testimony, or might merely do so inadvertently were they allowed in courtrooms, which could conceiveably result in a mistrial or worse, and that is why judges prohibit them.
Finally, every cop I have ever met would explain, concisely, that such use was prohibited there and not immediately grab the phone, but more simply, I wouldn't use one in either location.
This kid was on his lunch break in a school cafeteria, not in a location where the phone might have caused either a life threatening problem or critical disruption of the judicial process. He stepped outside to take the call. He disrupted no class in doing so.
As for the school administrator: Not a cop, (I really don't know how the police became involved, y'all started that).
Exactly what RFI critical tasks being done outside the lunchroom? What uninteruptible acts of critical jurisprudence were taking place?
Last, Amelia, the kids dad is the one who died 5 years ago. His mom is his sole surviving parent, and she is in a war zone. I was referring to the kid's father, not speculating on the administrator's love life. If I got that mixed up, my apologies.
You guys can play scenario games until we are Park rangers confronted with the dilemma of what to do when a member of an endangered animal species is eating an endangered plant, but the reality is that there are far better ways to handle the situation than were used. DO you think the school officials have gained any respect in the eyes of this student? of the student body? Of the general public?
While under different circumstances, they might have been more justified in demanding the immediate surrender of the phone (if the kid were taking an exam, in class, and they suspected cheating, perhaps), but in this instance, waiting would have harmed nothing.
No, I have had no phone calls from Iraq. The people I know who have been deployed there have saved their phone time for more immediate family members, as it should be. I can catch up on the news second hand.
That's not an unfair way of putting it. I know what I would do. Anyone else?
Just one caveat to the last post. Smokin' Joe implies that he would use violence against a cop who used undue violence against him, and he defines grabbing someone's cell phone as violence.
Heartless buzzards.
Actually, I'm current military. It's no surprise that you wouldn't count the Reserves as military.
Well, here's a clue - some of the people I know who have been and are deployed there are immediate family members. Others are the immediate family members of my neighbors, coworkers and students.
From the beginning of this war, I don't know of any of them who have ever received a phone call from Iraq during school hours.
The emergency thing doesn't wash either - if there's an actual emergency involving a family member in Iraq, you are notified in person, not by telephone. That's in part so you are ensured of having someone there to support you.
I don't even own a television.
Well if the teachers and administration could recognize a kid going through a troubled time and offer him love and compassion maybe he would be well-behaved!
You are just closing ranks and taking the schools side without giving the child any benefit of the doubt. The school is in CYA mode and will say just about anything at this point to turn the tables on this kid.
I don't even own a television.
LOL There are two televisions in my house but there are also 3 men in the house so that ought to tell you how much I'd get to watch even if I wanted to. Just about the only contact I have w/ television is to turn it off when the guys wander away.
Well if the teachers and administration could recognize a kid going through a troubled time and offer him love and compassion maybe he would be well-behaved!
Forget all the extra-ordinary factors in this kid's life, there just isn't any 'news' in a hormonal teenager having a spotty behavioral record. However, there is some news value in an adult teacher reacting to a situation like a hormonal teenager. Under the circumstances of an individual waddling into the kid's personal space and grabbing for things in his possession, I'm of the opinion that if the only thing the kid did was throw a fit and curse after the fact, then he acted with remarkable restraint. Toss in the extra-ordinary circumstances & his control is even more remarkable. A verbal outburst as a reaction to an act of physical aggression is the least to be expected.
PING!
OH, I see. I'm a yellow-bellied closet liberal; hard-hearted bureaucratic parrot of the NEA line, while you and your friends are
Super Patriots!
-- defenders of life, liberty, The American Way, the U.S. Military, and the poor pitiful potential orphan whose sole surviving parent left him all alone.
Do you have one of those little magnetic "I support our troops" ribbons on the back of your car, too? It must be true.
I bow to your superior patriotism and wisdom.
I was reading the Fort Benning board and it seems this school has caused many problems for military families. I'll post some of their comments:
....I am a military wife in Columbus, GA and have had the same kind of problems with the Muscogee School District. Our first incident was 3yrs ago when they claimed my son stole a cookie yet never even had a chance to pay for his lunch before they pulled him aside, he received suspension. Our second problem was more serious when I asked for the resignation of a teacher after her continued verbal abuse for 2years and telling me to shut up. I pulled my son out of her class this year because she told him "I feel like slapping the s*** out of you" and admitted this but the School Board found no wrong doing. There have been several other problems that keep me going to the school to defend my son and if this school system would start caring for the children instead of how well they are holding to their rules we could probably have children learning instead of getting suspended for ridiculous reasons. We have been stationed here for 6yrs and of the 6 my husband has been deployed for 4yrs so I depend on the schools to help me teach my kids not discipline them for tapping a pencil, which my son received central detention.
Hoping my son can attend a different school next year.
....Sir, the problem is that Spencer H.S. is the high school on-post students go to. Ft. Benning has a far better school system than Muscogee County, by any report I've ever heard, in addition to personal observation and experience. No, it's not without its problems, but the majority of parents on post are far happier with the DoD schools on post, than the Muscogee County School District in general. The problem is that Ft. Benning has no high school in its system. So big bucks go to the District to pay for the military kids going to off-post schools (including Spencer).
....Amen to that! We lived on post for 3yrs and the DoD schools were very good for my children. It's when we bought our house and had to go to Muscogee County Schools that we began to have problems.
....I am from Columbus and I want you to know that the whole town is in an uproar. I want to apologize to the military, they are all doing a DAMN FINE JOB for America. We are unfortunate enough to have a school system that thinks it answers to no one. I for one have been calling for their dismissal, and will continue to do so. PLEASE don't think the whole town feels this way, as I said, this is far from over, this school system is already feeling the wrath.
I'm a yellow-bellied closet liberal;
the teacher got an award sponsored by the leading black, liberal, abortion loving, war protesting, gay marriage defending in the state senate. the head of their congressional black caucus.
They hate the war, oppose president bush and are ideologically trying to run a 'liberal' spawning farm... They hate the military.
This teacher is one of them. So are the administrators.
It wouldn't surprise me if she was a hostile, male hating, life partner of some other female... acting out against young attractive single black men.
good catch.
Useful information. Thank you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.