I hope this makes you angry....

carolinagirl · Post by **carolinagirl** » April 17, 2008 9:09 am

The rules are too strict. This was between classes, and probably a quick phone call that would have been over before the next class. Suspended for two days????

My son was reading and texting on his cell phone during class just last Thursday, and yesterday we got a disciplinary note from school on it -- His first ever for anything. It was a WARNING, with a requested admistrative conference. No in school suspension or "Time Out" or demerits. We took the phone away from him for the weekend, and he promised not to text in class again.

It was him and his girlfriend in another class trying to keep each other awake. Not much different from what goes on in Buffett News while people are working.

Carolinadreamin' · Post by **Carolinadreamin'** » April 17, 2008 9:16 am

Wow! He got suspended for two days because he used his cell phone in class?

Our school rules are if you are caught with a cell phone it's taken away for the rest of the day, Second time, your parent has to come to school to retrieve it. Third time, it will remain in school until the end of the school year. I don't agree with our rule that cell phones should be kept in lockers. I personally believe that the kids should store them in their backpacks. As the school nurse, I sometimes need emergeny numbers and parents forget to tell the school when their cell phone numbers change. The kids will always have the correct number in their cell and usually have their back packs with them.

Living in the DC area, I understand why parents want their children to carry their phones. But I also understand the reality......which is kids use phones to cheat on tests and text their friends ALL DAY LONG.

I believe in our school, if any kid said "Mrs. __________, it's my Dad calling from Iraq!" The teacher would have allowed him to talk with him and probably helped him find a quiet place to talk.

And that's my 2 cents......

green1 · Post by **green1** » April 17, 2008 9:32 am

Dezdmona wrote:Not so fast...this student and his Mother KNEW his father would be calling from Iraq.
IMHO, if the Mother had discussed the call with the school and teacher BEFOREHAND; I have no doubt they would have supported the call.

Many school districts do not allow students to receive calls in class.
This student is expecting an apology from the district, when in fact he should be apologizing for not pre-aranging the call with them.

A little courtesy and pre-planning on the part of this family could likely have avoided this whole mess.

I would think that this qualifies as pre-planning.
Yet Pat Hill said before her husband left for Iraq, he made a special arrangement with the assistant principal.

"He had spoken with Mr. Fletcher," said Pat Hill. "He thought there was an agreement understood that if he called either Joshua or Brandon at school, that everything was fine.

He should have the suspension expunged he shoudl receive a personal apology from the teacher the principal and anyone else involved and it should be done in front of anyone that witnessed that student get in trouble.

Dez, the times that a person can call from Iraq are not written in stone. It is not as precise as 10:15 on Tuesday mornings. It looks like the dad did make arrangements and this teacher went on a power trip and refused to listen when the kid said that his dad was calling from Iraq.

Dezdmona · Post by **Dezdmona** » April 17, 2008 9:33 am

Just a bit more information on the incident...

This boy had been suspended earlier that same day for texting in class.
He asked his Mom to IM his Father and tell him to call because he was stressed & "needed to talk to him".

EDIT: green: I really don't think it would have been out of line for this student to inform his teacher that he was expecting a call from his Father, before the call came in, especially considering he'd been in trouble for improper use of his cell phone that same day.

carolinagirl · Post by **carolinagirl** » April 17, 2008 9:37 am

Dezdmona wrote:Just a bit more information on the incident...

This boy had been suspended earlier that same day for texting in class.
He asked his Mom IM his Father and tell him to call because he was stressed & "needed to talk to him".

That changes things. Always shows there's more than one side to a story.

RinglingRingling · Post by **RinglingRingling** » April 17, 2008 9:56 am

Get a load of this response I was just reading on the newspaper blog:

I agree... 04-15-2008 18:11:10
There is no reason families of military should be exempted from the same rules as the rest of the populace, whether it is cellphones in high schools or a lowered drinking age for recruits.

Everyone should be playing by the same rules. If you don't like them, change them for everyone, not just your little whippersnapper.

I CANNOT believe how some people view the world....absolutely pathetic.

ok.. this is starting to get a bit slippery. Even before I read that the kid had created the situation where the call was coming in, this was starting to stick in my craw.

While there should be extenuating circumstances: not just calls from military personnel stationed overseas calling their children on a catch-as-catch-can basis, but emergency calls like "your brother was in a car accident and is in surgery" or something similar. Just use of cell phones in school because a parent missed a pickup, sorry.. that is not an emergency.

Rules being rules, I can see two points: if they are there just to make it less necessary for someone to think, then it is imposition of authority and not really different (conceptually) from one of the 96 reasons Shrub gave for sending the military to Iraq: to effect regime-change of a dictatorship. If you just exempt military personnel or their kids from the rules that govern that society, then you create a two-class system, and destroy democracy, another principle we are trying to establish in the same area this kid's father is in now.

basically: sounds like the kid hosed himself, tried to use the excuse his father was calling to gain sympathy, and got caught out after trying to obfuscate the issue.

If this is the way it played out: kid doesn't deserve an apology, and most of the indignation toward the school's policy should be directed at the kid.

sorry.

green1 · Post by **green1** » April 17, 2008 10:03 am

Dezdmona wrote:Just a bit more information on the incident...

This boy had been suspended earlier that same day for texting in class.
He asked his Mom to IM his Father and tell him to call because he was stressed & "needed to talk to him".

EDIT: green: I really don't think it would have been out of line for this student to inform his teacher that he was expecting a call from his Father, before the call came in, especially considering he'd been in trouble for improper use of his cell phone that same day.

Where did you see that info? Do you have a link?

If it is true, it changes the situation somewhat.

pbans · Post by **pbans** » April 17, 2008 10:04 am

Because of my background, I am paranoid by nature......I insist that my daughter carry her cell phone at all times.....including school, even though it is against the rules. She knows that it is not to be turned on during school hours, but it's in her pocket.
If there is an incident at school........as there have been so many.....I want her to be able to contact the police or us.

This case, after hearing the whole story, almost sounds like a kid trying to exploit his father's deployment......maybe I'm wrong.

Migration Michelle · Post by **Migration Michelle** » April 17, 2008 10:09 am

Dezdmona wrote:Just a bit more information on the incident...

This boy had been suspended earlier that same day for texting in class.
He asked his Mom to IM his Father and tell him to call because he was stressed & "needed to talk to him".

Okay, now the story changes...funny once you hear the other side. I guess we shouldn't all jump to an early conclusion.

On a side note, my son was caught using an electronic hand held dictionary (that wasn't his) in class last week and was given a "mark." When he got home, he got his cell phone taken away for the rest of the school year and no electronics at all for the next two weekends. He also gave the teacher a hand-written apology.

I personally do not believe our children need electronics, including phones, every second in school. There is a time and a place.

He said, "Mom, I felt like I was walking on death row when I was coming in the front door!"
He KNEW my punishment would be far worse than anything a school could give. I explained that rules are rules (which are sometimes not fair and make no sense at all) but you are disrespecting authority by disobeying them and you must pay the consequences.

I don't think he'll make that mistake again in the future.

Dezdmona · Post by **Dezdmona** » April 17, 2008 10:18 am

green1 wrote:
Dezdmona wrote:Just a bit more information on the incident...

This boy had been suspended earlier that same day for texting in class.
He asked his Mom to IM his Father and tell him to call because he was stressed & "needed to talk to him".

EDIT: green: I really don't think it would have been out of line for this student to inform his teacher that he was expecting a call from his Father, before the call came in, especially considering he'd been in trouble for improper use of his cell phone that same day.
Where did you see that info? Do you have a link?

If it is true, it changes the situation somewhat.

A combination of two places:
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=24674
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350988,00.html

I think it's interesting how the Mother went to the Media for attention before she actually spoke with school officials (she did ask to meet with them, but they were not immediately available).

green1 · Post by **green1** » April 17, 2008 10:27 am

Dezdmona wrote:
green1 wrote:
Dezdmona wrote:Just a bit more information on the incident...

This boy had been suspended earlier that same day for texting in class.
He asked his Mom to IM his Father and tell him to call because he was stressed & "needed to talk to him".

EDIT: green: I really don't think it would have been out of line for this student to inform his teacher that he was expecting a call from his Father, before the call came in, especially considering he'd been in trouble for improper use of his cell phone that same day.
Where did you see that info? Do you have a link?

If it is true, it changes the situation somewhat.
A combination of two places:
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=24674
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350988,00.html

I think it's interesting how the Mother went to the Media for attention before she actually spoke with school officials (she did ask to meet with them, but they were not immediately available).

Thanks for the links, and it does change my view somewhat. I do not think he owes that teacher an apology as the call was not taken in class. I do think both the kid, mother and school handled the entire thing incorrectly but it seems as though it is worked out now. But there was an understanding between this family and the school regarding calls from his father to his son. And now, the mother has redoubled that to all of the teachers.

Tarheel Tail-Gator · Post by **Tarheel Tail-Gator** » April 17, 2008 10:28 am

Dezdmona wrote:
green1 wrote:
Dezdmona wrote:Just a bit more information on the incident...

This boy had been suspended earlier that same day for texting in class.
He asked his Mom to IM his Father and tell him to call because he was stressed & "needed to talk to him".

EDIT: green: I really don't think it would have been out of line for this student to inform his teacher that he was expecting a call from his Father, before the call came in, especially considering he'd been in trouble for improper use of his cell phone that same day.
Where did you see that info? Do you have a link?

If it is true, it changes the situation somewhat.
A combination of two places:
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=24674
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350988,00.html

I think it's interesting how the Mother went to the Media for attention before she actually spoke with school officials (she did ask to meet with them, but they were not immediately available).

Awright, you suckered me in:

That is the one problem I have with this story, it seems that we, as a society, are awful quick to go to the media, file a lawsuit, etc., if we feel that we've been wronged.

As I posted earlier, the school should hear her case and any conversation that she wants to have concerning this, but IMO we'd be much better as a society if our methods of conflict resolution did not immediately involve gossip, the media, and lawsuits, but rather sitting down (or calling) the involved parties and having a discussion first.

Nine times out of ten, I've found that the situation is not as bad as imagined if the two parties talk and express their feelings and reason for their decision/action.

SharkOnLand · Post by **SharkOnLand** » April 17, 2008 10:49 am

Sounds like a matter that should be handled by the mom, kid and school district. A bunch of people (who probably don't know the entire story) sending emails to a school district they have no connection to will just complicate things.

If the mom went to the sensationalist media before attempting to work it out with the school first, then shame on her.

pbans · Post by **pbans** » April 17, 2008 10:57 am

Wasn't there a similar story in the news a while back????????

SchoolGirlHeart · Post by **SchoolGirlHeart** » April 17, 2008 11:35 am

The additional information casts something of a new light on the issue, but the boy should still be able to take a call from his deployed father any time, and the school and the family should work out the methodology to allow that to happen.

Should the boy be subject to the schools rules and punishments for texting? Yes, like any other kid. But if a call comes in from his dad, he should be allowed to answer it.

We have "special needs" kids in our schools, mostly by virtue of health or developmental conditions. Military kids whose parents are deployed have special needs during that time. Imagine trying to concentrate on schoolwork when you're wondering if one of the three or four soldiers you heard were killed that day is your father or mother............

Footnote.... I didn't sleep much.... I had nightmares that I was deployed, in the desert, my cell phone was ringing, I thought it was my kids, and I couldn't get to it....

Wino you know · Post by **Wino you know** » April 17, 2008 1:47 pm

It's in AUSTIN, which is the San Francisco of Texas.
How could you expect anything less from those morons?

RinglingRingling · Post by **RinglingRingling** » April 17, 2008 1:49 pm

Wino you know wrote:It's in AUSTIN, which is the San Francisco of Texas.
How could you expect anything less from those morons?

thank you for yet another knee-jerk blanket generalization.

Skibo · Post by **Skibo** » April 17, 2008 2:41 pm

Back in the dark ages when I was in school, if a parent needed to contact their child, they called the school office and the student was located. We had a pay phone for student use that was locked during school hours and you had to get permission to use the phone if it was required during school hours. The kids don't need cell phones in schools, nor do they need any electronic device including calculators.

chippewa · Post by **chippewa** » April 17, 2008 3:17 pm

Running to the media before having a civil conversation with the party that "wronged" you is never a good first step. We had a similar situation here just in the past week. The original story made the local paper, the wire reports and even Paul Harvey's radio show.

A Navy medic, home for the first time since a six-month tour of duty in Iraq, was traveling on the freeway and saw a ambulance pulled over and a "hysterical" woman next to it. He stopped and found they pulled over so both EMTs could work on her husband while he was in cardiac arrest. He offered to help, they accepted, so he hopped in the back while one of the EMTs drove to the hospital. When he went back later to get his truck off the freeway, it was towed away and he had to pay $60 to get it back. Quite the outrage when it hit the papers.

The flip-side: Cars on the side of the road are usually tagged and left for 48 hours. However, the medic's car was across the white fog line and creating a hazard. Before towing they ran his plates and called the phone number they had. No answer, and the officer did not know why the car was there. Car was towed. The company that towed his truck charges him the standard $60, not knowing the situation.

I commend the medic for stopping and helping. The sheriff did the right thing in removing a hazard, and even tried to contact the owner. The tow company towed a car and wanted to collect their charges. No problem with any of that.

The end result -- once the Sheriff's office learned the situation, they cut the guy a $60 check. Heard an interview, basically the Sheriff said he wished somebody would have talked to his office first and explained the situation.

http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/2008/04/go ... t_pay.html

Shades of grey wherever I go
The more I find out the less that I know
Black and white is how it should be
But shades of grey are the colors I see

MammaBear · Post by **MammaBear** » April 17, 2008 10:09 pm

I have instructed my son to carry his cell phone with him (turned off during the day) because I feel it is imperative that he be able to communicate with me in the event of an emergency. This is against school policy; however, I will (and have had to)defend my rights as a taxpayer and a parent for my son to have the ability to communicate with me or the police if necessary.

This is a matter of safety and as a parent, the safety of my child is paramount.