Student suspended after cell phone call from..

Endo · Post by **Endo** » Sat May 07, 2005 1:28 pm

[quote]Um, ok, another completely egregious one to file in the why-public-school-sucks scrapbook; Kevin Francois of Spencer High in Columbus, Georgia, was suspended for the rest of the school year for refusing to hang up on a cellphone call from his mother, a soldier positioned in Iraq for over a year. Did we mention he took the call during his lunch break? Granted, it was against school rules to talk on the phone during session hours, but let’s get real here. Hey, just one quick note, school administrators: you might be careful once Kevin’s highly trained crack-operative mom gets back from fighting Iraqi insurgents—surely you could have thought of easier kids to pick on with your humbling powers of mediocre public education administration?[/quote] [u][url=\"http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2005/05/008203.htm\"][Source][/url][/u]

I think this is extremely absurd. The school is way out of line, specially for the fact that he was taking the call during lunch time, further more to suspend him for the rest of the school year? Common. Even more to the fact that it was his mother in Iraq; wheres this unity in americans we allways hear about huh?

Adrasteia · Post by **Adrasteia** » Sat May 07, 2005 2:28 pm

i agree endo....i hope the kids parents and other people at the school, especially local media are causing a big fuss over this. i understand teachers have bad days, but theyre supposed to be the adults and this is the behaviour of an 8yr old
Nem

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Sat May 07, 2005 2:57 pm

Sounds like my school.... If they even see a cell phone they take it and they\'ll keep it until the end of the year...you can\'t even have your parent come in and get it. You have to wait until the end of the year before you can get it..... Quite stupid if you ask me..

Now this school should be sued! Maybe we should take teachers\' cell phones when they get a call and they\'re talking on it.

Post by **Jim** » Sat May 07, 2005 3:28 pm

I didn\'t vote on this one because I think it could go both ways. Yes it was wrong for the administrators to make him hang up like that, but Kevin Francois could have probably handeled it better. Instead of saying, \"This is my mom in Iraq. I\'m not about to hang up on my mom.\" he could have explained to the administrator the situation and asked if he could keep talking aslong as it was quick. I know our teachers have made exceptions to the rules when the students get calls from daycare center\'s that their kids are at aslong as the students explain that the call needs to be taken then.

Post by **NightStorm** » Sat May 07, 2005 4:26 pm

From what I read, he was suspended for 10 days, and not because he was using his cell phone but because of how he responded to the teacher when asked to please turn the phone off. It was his tough luck that 10 school days takes up the remainder of the year.
According to reports from several witnesses, the student became beligerant to the teacher instead of simply explaining the situation... and such cases result in either the police being called (and the student being arrested), or a 10 day suspension (2 school weeks).
In this case, although he *was* trying to talk with his mother, I would have to side with the school. All it would have taken was a simple explaination, but instead he was rude to the faculty.
The rules were in place long before he received the call, and he was well aware of their existance... he made the choice, and was punished for it.
How many seconds would it have taken him to ask his mom to call back in a few hours when school was out, so that he would not get in trouble, anyway?

Post by **Tami** » Sat May 07, 2005 4:27 pm

Yes it can go either way, red...but then we don\'t really know \"how unruly\" he got. I voted in support of the student. I wonder how that teacher would feel if that was the last time the boy ever had a chance to speak to his mother. Yes I know that could apply to any circumstance but the chances of her being killed are much higher considering where she is. The student wasn\'t hurting anyone, he obviously wasn\'t in class, he wasn\'t getting any test answers and he was outside of the school building. I don\'t know how often soldiers are able to call home from the Middle East but I definitely think the teacher should\'ve used a little compassion and allowed the student to talk to his mom.

edit because NightStorm posted before I did....I don\'t know if I would trust the accounts of \"he got beligerent\" .... certainly he would\'ve been emotional about the situation--we don\'t know if it was the first time he got to talk to his Mom on the phone since her deployment, and if the teacher started the conversation with \"Hang up that phone\" he/she is the one who opened the door to confrontation. I still think an allowance should\'ve been made-even if the teacher had perhaps given him a time limit to talk to her.

us3rX · Post by **us3rX** » Sat May 07, 2005 5:04 pm

Yes his mom is in Iraq, yes it was lunch time, but still in alot of schools cell phones arent to be used during school, they are more of a means of communication after school, and alot of schools here in Ga will take the cell phone even if your not using it, they think its a distraction, also have been alot of fights over \"my phone is better then yours.\" Rules are rules, they apply to everyone...

[quote name=\'Adaera\']I wonder how that teacher would feel if that was the last time the boy ever had a chance to speak to his mother. Yes I know that could apply to any circumstance but the chances of her being killed are much higher considering where she is.[/quote]
can\'t really use that ;\ hell any day could be your last

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In Short: *sides with the school*
us3rX

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Post by **Tami** » Sat May 07, 2005 6:32 pm

That\'s why I added:

[quote]Yes I know that could apply to any circumstance[/quote]

maybe it\'s just different mindsets...different countries, different urban conditions, but I still side with the student

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Endo · Post by **Endo** » Sat May 07, 2005 10:53 pm

Ohh wow NS, what you said changes it completely, i was basing my judgement from the pov in NZ, which the school year still has like..months left lol. In ther perspective it sounds like he was more in the wrong then the school was!

Our school has set good rules reguarding cell phones; they are allowed at school but should be turned off in class but can be used in recess and lunch times. If your caught with one when your not supposed to its taken off you and put in the school safe and your parent has to come and pick it up.

But yeah, in whats been said I actually side with the school also; I guess the article i read (re:source) had obviously only bothered ot post there version, or did not get the full story!

Post by **NightStorm** » Sat May 07, 2005 11:13 pm

Here\'s a link to the full story:
[url=\"http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=60364\"]http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfu...ry.asp?ID=60364[/url]

mobil1_oils · Post by **mobil1_oils** » Sun May 08, 2005 3:10 am

[b][i][color=\"gray\"][font=\"tahoma\"]I voted in favor of the student. Yes we don't know how unruly the child got, going by the news story, it sounds like the child did get rather disorderly, but then the teacher could also be "inflating" the issue so as to make the school look a little better from a moral standpoint. I don't really know why i voted in favor of the child, but the fact remains it was in a lunch break, and not many people are going to be asking each other for test question answers durin a lunch break, any test they are going to do they have either already completed, or don't know the questions to.

Our school is rather lenient on the use of mobile/cell phones and Ipods and other personal electrical equiptment durin school hours.

The school doesn't really have a set policy on it, it's more on a teacher by teacher basis. The school has a strict rule against using it in class, but a majority of the teachers will let you use your phone to txt and stuff aslong as it isn't interrupting your work, and aslong as its not in a test or anything.

Durin lunch, recess and free periods, we can use our phones all we like. Infact many a time have we had our friends call up the school from a cell phone claiming to be someones parent, and saying they accidentally left their permission slip at home for an excursion and that you give them permission to go. They know full well we do it, they just don't really care.

Teachers can confiscate phones, but they can't keep them for any longer than a few days, IE: Get it back at the end of the week. But in 99% of cases, its just untill the end of the day, or untill the lunch break. They get locked in the cash safe at the office and returned to you at the end of the day.[/b][/i][/color][/font]

Post by **Marko** » Sun May 08, 2005 4:57 am

I didnt vote for this one as not all the facts are know, such as how the teacher confronted the student and how the student responded back. They say the student was out of control and then said when a student goes out of control \"like that\" they can be suspended etc.... and yet we dont know what \"like that\" is, and nowhere does it state what he did besides refusing to hang up.

Trinity · Post by **Trinity** » Sun May 08, 2005 7:04 am

I think that is rediculous - I sided with the student.

Surely this situation counts as mitigating circumstances. He was on the phone to his mother in Iraq, and he's probably worried sick about her - he may have acted rudely, but surely anyone can see that he's in a stressful, emotional situation!

NS said that he could have asked her to call back later - it's not like she's calling from interstate or anything - she's in a war! She's in a country where over 1000 of her fellow soldiers have died already in this conflict, with many more injured!

The law takes into account mitigating circumstances when handing out punishments, surely the school could to?

radar · Post by **radar** » Sun May 08, 2005 11:12 am

Schools have power.
Schools use power.
Schools abuse power.

That's my two cents.

Carson · Post by **Carson** » Sun May 08, 2005 4:15 pm

Seeing how we can only rely on the reporters wording in the article, we do not know for sure exactly how the teacher told this student (Francois) to hang up his cell phone, or what the exact words Francois used to reply to the teacher, other than "he refused". This student may have been emotionally distraught all along from missing his mother and may have "unloaded" on the teacher because of this. I am sure that the school knew where his mother was beforehand, and should have taken this student's behaviour into account before handing out this suspension. I definitely side with the student.