So, a school district in Georgia suspended a kid for 10 days for refusing to end a cell phone call while in school. Normally I’d be all for this, but the call was from the kid’s mom… who’s serving in Iraq.
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.
So, let me get this straight. They were planning on arresting this kid over a stupid phone call?
What’s worse, the story goes on to reveal that the kid was on his lunch break. That’s right, he wasn’t in class, and he probably wasn’t even interrupting anything or anyone as he took the call. Not to mention, it’s probably difficult as hell and expensive as hell for a soldier serving in Iraq to arrange a phone call back home. While it’s quite easy for us back in the states to sit back and dial a few digits, and in many cases not pay a dime for it, reaching out isn’t so easy while being the target of insurgents half a world away in a war-torn country.
And besides… it was his mom. Whom he probably hasn’t seen in over a year, no less.
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.
Well y’know? If I were that kid, and I got a call from my mother in Iraq, and some anal retentive stick-to-the-rules-and-have-zero-compassion schoolmarm decides to get his or her kicks by throwing the rules into my face, I’d be a tad “defiant and disorderly” too.
Updated story here, where it appears the district is starting to exaggerate its claim in order to bolster ts position.