Student Suspended Over Call From Mom In Iraq

[Glockmeister1405241492 0]

From AOL news

COLUMBUS, Ga. (May 7) - Faced with stinging public criticism, 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.
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 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 Muscogee County School District Board of Education allows students to have cell phones in school but not to use them during school hours. School officials said Francois was defiant and used profanity when asked to surrender his phone.

"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.

School officials received many calls about the incident, said assistant principal Wendell Turner.

"People are fussing at us, calling us names,'' Turner said.

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

Agree or disagee?

[Axis 0]

I think the school policy is stupid to start with. When kids are in the halls or at lunch there is no reason they should not be able to use their cell phones. As long as they are not distrupting classes what does it hurt if they use their cell phones?In regards to the boy, I agree that it was wrong I the child to use profanity, but he should have never been asked to give up his cell phone, especially under the cirmunstances. I'm glad that people are complaining.Hopeful in time the rules regarding cell phones will be changed and then these problems will not occur.

[cmatcmextra1405241493 0]

They aren't empathetic with this incident because he phoned once home. An empathetic person would disregard the incident as he hadn't seen his mum for 4 months. I appreciate there behaviour standards but no-one would know of this incident if it was ignored in the first place so by creating a big fuss over it they're creating more problems for themselves.If you still understand what I'm saying, good

[ebbinger_413 0]

I think the school policy is stupid to start with.  When kids are in the halls or at lunch there is no reason they should not be able to use their cell phones.  As long as they are not distrupting classes what does it hurt if they use their cell phones?

 

In regards to the boy, I agree that it was wrong I the child to use profanity, but he should have never been asked to give up his cell phone, especially under the cirmunstances.  I'm glad that people are complaining.

 

Hopeful in time the rules regarding cell phones will be changed and then these problems will not occur.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

our school has the cell phone rule to (cant use cell phones on school ground but can have them on school ground) it is really stupid and doesnt make much sense to me. personally i think that we should be allowed to use them in school as long as they are not disturbing classes or causing any problems. ( i believe they have that rule here because it interferes with some of their server equipment or sumtin - just stuff ive heard- but ive never heard of a cell phone interfering with any of that stuff because cell phones work off of different frequencies). in waupaca they allowed cell phones in the school, you could use them in the halls and even in the study rooms (cept library) but you could not use them during class (if you did use them worst they could do was take them away for the remander of class period - nuttin big) but compared to school i go to now (clintonville) waupaca seems very very leinant...but it was great.

 

 

They aren't empathetic with this incident because he phoned once home.  An empathetic person would disregard the incident as he hadn't seen his mum for 4 months. I appreciate there behaviour standards but no-one would know of this incident if it was ignored in the first place so by creating a big fuss over it they're creating more problems for themselves.

 

If you still understand what I'm saying, good

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i think that it is stupid of them to suspend the kid. i mean, i understand he was swearing and what not (personally i think that we should be able to say what we want) but just cause he was talking to his mom WHO IS IN IRAQ and he might not be able to talk to her for a while. and yes they created a bigger problem by creating a big fuss about it especially considering they are in a city with a big military base (clintonville has only had a total of 3-5 people head to iraq, i believe, could be wrong, probably am)

[bigredrosen 0]

From AOL news

Agree or disagee?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

it's sad that any school would do this. as a student, i realize the rules of no cell phones, and i respect (and understand) them. but in this case, i certainly do not think the student should have been suspended. it's his mother for god's sake, at least let the kid say goodbye without suspending him.

[chelley 0]

What?! That is so dumb. I can understand why cell phones are banned, I mean what school doesn't ban them anymore? But it's still kind of silly to suspend a kid over. At least this didn't happen during class, THEN I could see the need for some disciplinary action... and even then, suspension is kind of extreme! At my school they get detentions, and if a big disturbance is made, then they could get suspended... Maybe that is just one of those situations where you had to be there...

[organicbmx 0]

that is a prime example of moronic, have to do what the book says to the word, thinking.have they never heard of time zones. it wouldnt matter when the call was recieved, it's his mum and she is in a position of continued mortal danger. iraq is in a very different time zone to the us, it was obviously the only time that she would be able to speek with him. whoever enforced that should be sacked for not having a soul.

[iGuest 3]

that is a prime example of moronic, have to do what the book says to the word, thinking.
have they never heard of time zones. it wouldnt matter when the call was recieved, it's his mum and she is in a position of continued mortal danger. iraq is in a very different time zone to the us, it was obviously the only time that she would be able to speek with him. whoever enforced that should be sacked for not having a soul.

Agreed. Let's lynch the superintendant LOL. What we have here is a failure to comunicate. (yes the Puns are intended) Seriously though, this kid obviously had a VERY good reason to be on the phone. You would think that the people in charge would realize this as well. What we have created here is a system that punishes the very people it is meant to help.

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

When I was in high school the only cell rules were not in class, but that was because we were in a tiny town and cell's weren't popular yet so not many people had them. Now apparently both school in my hometown have those types of rules, but under any situation like that I know they wouldn't react with more then a detention to show they were following disciplinary rules.As far as the profanity goes, I can't blame him. If I was in a similar situation it wouldn't matter who was trying to kill the phone call but I would react in whatever way was necessary to get that person to leave me be until the call was over. Schools complain when parents don't play an active role in their kids' lives and then punish a kid for accepting ac all from his mom whom he hasn't seen in months... oooh school boards

[evought 0]

From AOL newsAgree or disagee?

I'm going to give a very solid 'it depends'.

As is often the case with stories like this, you do not know what is left out. If the school has a no cell phones policy and they provide an alternative (e.g. the mom can call the school operator and have her son paged), then I do not think there is a problem. Cell phones can be disruptive and, given that the school seres an army base, I can see where his 'excuse' could get old very quickly. On the other hand, given that it does serve an army base, if the school does not have some alternative for "I need to talk to my son and this is the only chance I get," then there is something very, very wrong.

Is it just me or is the superintendent's "Oh my God, people are angry and calling us names" rather comical? The fact that they have reduced the suspension from 10 days to 3 tells me that they may not think their policy is very smart.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I say that kids should be allowed to use their cell, as long as they're not in class. At my high school, we're allowed, but not technically...xboxrulz

[lonebyrd 0]

Well I think the cell phone rule itself is kind of silly. You can have the phones in school, you just cant use them? Why do they even allow them in the first place? Thats like bringing a kid to a candy store! But in this matter, I think the kid had every right to want to talk to his Mother. I don't think it would have been possible, as mentioned earlier, to have the boy paged, because the mother has only limited time to talk being overseas in a war. Being a school that is 'home' to military base kids, they should have more compasion when it comes to these matters. A simple detention for the use of profanity maybe. But a 10 day suspension, reduced to 3 because people made a stink about it? That's just plain ridiculous.

[Hraefn 0]

If that's what schools today are like, then no wonder the quality of education has deteriorated so badly! Rules are rules, and it's understandable that the school would enforce them even against public protest. However, there are always exceptions to every rule, and the school should know that. After all, the circumstances are unusual — the kid hasn't seen his mother for a long time and, while the call came during school hours, it wasn't during class hours. It happened during lunch, in fact. Given the extraordinary circumstances — and the fact that the call came at a time that was not disruptive to the class — the school should have made an exception. That would be empathetic. Instead, what they did makes them look like they had a stick up their collective asses.

 

Of course, the kid was wrong to use profanity, but hey, who's the adult here? =^^=

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

This is also a good example of how school systems are more politics now then about educating the children. I mean they buckled virtually immediately once the bad press started flowing. They picked the perfect reduction so they could seem both newly sympathetic AND true to their word in regards to keeping the rule intact.

[Logan Deathbringer 0]

I think that students shouldn't be allowed to have their cell phone in class, the reason for this is that they can use them to cheat on tests, also they can be a distraction. As for being able to use them on school property, during lunches or long breaks sure no problem, but use in a class room - no.As for the schools reaction to the call, I don't agree with it. They had no right to as the student to give up his cell phone due to the fact that he was talking to his mom who was deployed to a war zone, "police action area", however you want to word it. At the same time I cannot, and will not, condone the students actions, though I will admit that I am being a bit hipocritical here since I would have probably reacted the same way when I was his age, or even worse.I think the school officials should have to make a very public appology. Although I doubt that they will do so.