RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events School Makes Kid Hang Up on Mom in Iraq

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. . . .

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. . . .

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.

Assistant principal Alfred Parham says Francois could have been arrested for being defiant. He adds that students are not permitted to use cell phones "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."

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Chant said:

breaks are the students own, what they do in their breaks is their business, and not the schools

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I don't know that that's technically true. In loco parentis may exist.

And if the kid's doing anything on school grounds, it's the school's business.

But I have to admit the Principal overreacting and his use of "conversating" just makes me think he's stupid. But maybe it's part of the local jargon....

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rex said:
I am incapable of posting anything that isn't critical of someone else, even a kid who's mom is stationed in Iraq

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rex said:
In fact, I am so critical all the time, I don't even realize what a critical person I've become

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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."

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the G-man said:
Still, it just seems to me that having your mother half a world away in a war zone, and only able to call under limited circumstances, is enough of a stress inducer that the kid should have been cut more slack than the typical student.

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the G-man said:
But you'll note, DK, I said that the suspension should have been lifted AFTER his claim was verified. That would hardly provide incentive to other kids to make up claims.

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the G-man said:
It just seems to me that having your mother half a world away in a war zone, and only able to call under limited circumstances, is enough of a stress inducer that the kid should have been cut more slack than the typical student.

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the G-man said:
I dunno, DK. I think my "hang 'em high, law and order" bonafides are pretty well established,

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but even I think sometimes you have to temper justice with mercy.

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r3x29yz4a said:

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the G-man said:
It just seems to me that having your mother half a world away in a war zone, and only able to call under limited circumstances, is enough of a stress inducer that the kid should have been cut more slack than the typical student.

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He must hate George W. Bush for sending his mom there.
Man that must sting you, G-man.

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Wouldn't it suck for you if the kid turned out to be a hardcore Bush supporter and this only solidified his resolve?

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School Reduces Suspension Over Iraq Call

COLUMBUS, Ga. - 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."

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rex said:
The kid should have told the school when she was going to call. Its as simple as that.

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Darknight613 said:

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the G-man said:
Still, it just seems to me that having your mother half a world away in a war zone, and only able to call under limited circumstances, is enough of a stress inducer that the kid should have been cut more slack than the typical student.

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Perhaps. But on the other hand, you can't allow a student to curse out a member of school faculty who's trying to enforce a rule and get away with it because of difficult circumstances. There's the possibility that if Kevin gets off the hook, other students might justify belligerence to school officials by making up similar claims, as opposed to Kevin's legitimate claim.

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Batwoman said:
But if they try and use the excuse that their parent is in the war, then the school would know if they were lying or not since they're the school for that base.

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The kids can try and get away with it, but if the school's smart, they'll do it on a case per case basis and not have a blanket get out of jail frree card.

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