Student suspended over call from mom in Iraq

[Yankeez]

Source (http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/06/call.suspension.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories)

COLUMBUS, Georgia (AP) -- A high school student was suspended for 10 days for refusing to end a cell 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.

Cell 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."

wtf..

[Bretman1234]

Thats BS. The kid probably hasn't seen his mom in months or talked to her in weeks. Rules are rules but this is a time of war and exceptions must be made. That principal is out of their mind.

[fiXXXer]

Kids going to have one hell of a bill for that call.

[duke]

Kids going to have one hell of a bill for that call.

Why would he be charged anything more than normal for an incoming phone call? I just woke up so maybe I'm missing something here.

[kraft]

I understand the whole bit about him not seeing his mom due to her being in Iraq, but shouldn't the mom have realized that maybe calling him in school isn't the best time to talk to him? While the punishment seems a little stiff, it also seems like a little more common sense could have been excersized on both sides of that confrontation.

[Casper]

I understand the whole bit about him not seeing his mom due to her being in Iraq, but shouldn't the mom have realized that maybe calling him in school isn't the best time to talk to him? While the punishment seems a little stiff, it also seems like a little more common sense could have been excersized on both sides of that confrontation.
Yes, next time, she should tell the guys that she's probably giving water to that she'll be right there and has to call her son - which would be like a 3am phone call over there. Fuck the school on this one - let it pass.

[kraft]

Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying the school was right: they aren't. The call should have been allowed, if not just by the teacher saying 'go ahead and take it out in the hall'.

[Flood]

now lets look at this with an open mind: mainstream media very often skews things the way they want the story to read.

now the school says he was suspended because he was "defiant and disorderly". perhaps instead of calmly telling them the situation when asked to get off the phone, he swore and yelled at the teacher....this could have happened....who knows.

[Ford Mustang]

Here's an update:


School Reduces Suspension Over Iraq Call

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) -- Following hundreds of angry phone calls and e-mails, school officials in this Army base city have reduced a suspension imposed on a student who wouldn't give up his cell phone while talking to his mom - a sergeant on duty in Iraq.

The angry calls about the boy's suspension got so bad at one point that secretaries had to take their phones off the hook, assistant principal Alfred Parham said.

Kevin Francois, a 17-year-old junior at Spencer High School, was suspended for 10 days for disorderly conduct Wednesday after a teacher told him to give up his cell phone outside the school during his lunch break and he refused, the teen said.

The boy said he had not expected the call from his mother, Sgt. 1st Class Monique Bates, who left in January for a one-year tour.

The teacher says the confrontation happened in a hallway, not outside, and that Francois never said the call was with his mother.

The Muscogee County School District Board of Education allows students to have cell phones in school but not to use them during school hours.

The punishment for violating that policy is that the phone is confiscated until the end of the day. But Francois was suspended for cursing and being defiant, said Parham. That was extended to 10 because "he did not want to accept the three-day suspension and to agree that he would not use the cell phone openly or curse."

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

On Friday, the school district reduced the suspension to three days, which will allow Francois to return to school Monday, after officials met with him, the guardian who cares for him while his mother is out of the country, and a representative of her unit.

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

"We are the school that serves Fort Benning," Turner said. "We're well aware of students with parents overseas."

Parham said, however, that Francois' behavior at school has been "a chronic problem."

And Francois added: "I'm not a golden child and I've been wrong, but I was right this time."

© 2005 The Associated Press.

So now he gets three days instead of ten. Good on those people for calling in and telling that bullshit school how it is.