Geeze if you're gonna be nasty and persnickety you should at least revel in it.

This was the first message I sent....

Dear Mr. Parham,

I was appalled to read that you suspending Mr. Kevin Francois from school over a cellphone call to his mother. As a mother of two small boys, let me just say, I'm thankful that they won't be attending your school.

Of course, I wasn't witness to the incident or know all the underlying facts. Let me just say this as part of a bit of common sense that I can gather without being there. The time that it took for the teacher to interrupt Mr. Francois's phone conversation cut into his precious little time for interaction with his mother. Any adult, let alone youth, would be DIRECT AND POINTED about holding up a discussion of whether to shut the phone off or not until after that phone call.

All I can say is, for your sake, I hope that nothing tragic happens to Mr. Francois' mother. I'd hate to be known as the school that didn't let a child have his LAST words with his mother and suspended him for 10 days for attempting to do just that.

This is difinitely a sad day for the U.S. educational system when certain exceptions can't be made. It's obvious that our educational sytem is incapable of simple common sense. Thank you for your time and attention to my concerns.

Kindest Regards,

This was the second one

Dear Mr. Parham,

Upon further review, you and your staff ARE people who would keep a son from possibly talking to his mother for the last time. I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND HOW YOU SOUND:
"They are really allowed to have those cell phones so that after band or after chorus or after the debate and practices are over they have to coordinate with the parents," said Alfred Parham, assistant principal at Spencer. "They're not supposed to use them 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."

What a pompous idiot you must be! He wasn't just chatting up friends and text-messaging test questions. HE WAS VERY WELL DOING THE THING YOU SAY YOU ALLOW PHONES ON CAMPUS FOR-- "they have to coordinate with the parents". It just so happens that his mother is in IRAQ!

When a teacher tried to grab the boy's phone, the call was disconnected. School staff wouldn't let the student answer the phone when the mom tried to call back. He cursed and was disciplined for his disorderly behavior. The boy acknowledges his reaction was wrong.
How often does he get calls from his mother, you heartless beast?! You expect anyone to be CIVIL when you won't let him talk to his MOTHER? I THINK YOU ASK MORE THAN ANY HUMAN BEING CAN GIVE! You in your high, pearly tower are a little Napoleon. You know what happened to him? Or, that's right, you're an educational administrator, you probably don't know

I feel the boy's been vindicated.... COOL!

Oh spare me. Everything is appalling. 20 things a day are absolutely, horrifyingly, appalling. Now book that kid on my show now, so I can make sure you are further appalled.

A teacher sees a kid on the cell phone, says get off, and he says "ButI can't. if I do, Keifer Sutherland will shoot everybody!"

The teacher persists.

Appalling.

Hoke, currently you should be nauseated, not appalled. Check the Freak-out advisory.

Evidently, the kid has issues- flunking classes, discipline problems, foul mouth, etc.

I think the school is right in retracting the suspension, but let's remember this: the suspension was NOT for talking on the phone. The suspension was for cussing out multiple teachers and adminstrators after the phone call was over.

Even the kid says, "I'm no angel, but this time I was right". Well, sorta. Kinda sorta.

What the hell, kid. Whatcha doin' Monday? Come on back to class. Only three weeks left, anyway. Just try and watch the mouth, ok?

I was always suspicious that the full context of this story wasn't being told.

The fact that the kid was a problem student doesn't surprise me. This is how I saw it was more likely to go:

Teacher sees kid on cell phone, tells him to get off. He tells her to go to hell and doesn't say anything about his mom or Iraq, at which point the teacher gets pissed and punishes him.

In that light, it's just a kid being an arrogant jerk.

I'm stuck on appalled. I've been appalled for so long, I can't pee straight.

Just appalling.

Is it possible to tar and feather these teachers, or would that be too appalling?

Even if the kid did what they said he did, 10 days is too much. The suspension was originally three days. Because he wouldn't say the magic words and accept the suspension and promise never swear/use the phone again, they upped it to 10 days. That's simply an abuse of power by the school officials.

Also, they allow cell phones on campus but they can't be used during school hours. This was lunch time. Big deal.

gob-smackingly vile

Destroy all cell phones! If I have to see one more homeless bum on the bus ostentatiously turn on his cell phone and start yakking to his buddy (maybe his imaginary buddy, maybe it's one of those fake kiddy toy cell phones) about the Kentucky Derby or the Raiders or the little silver pigs that fly around his head I think I will explode or something.

Also, there was this woman sitting behind me who would not. Stop. Sucking. On. Her. Teeth. I wanted to turn around and smack her. It was... appalling!

Andrea, buy a car. You get to listen to your own music and don't have to deal with the crazies. You can store your own stuff in it and it's usually ready to go whenever you are.

It's the American way. Buses are for commies.

Oh spare me. Everything is appalling.

Okay Hokey... I'll spare you! How about this for spare???

I'm stuck on appalled. I've been appalled for so long, I can't pee straight.

That spare me site ought to do nicely for that problem as well. YEA! as well.

I don't know that Kevin was actually vindicated, since he is still being punished for what he did. The three-day suspension that he is likely to serve is the initial punishment he received for cursing and being defiant; it was extended to 10 days (in lieu of arrest) after he continued to curse and be defiant. (The punishment for using a cell phone without permission is simply confiscation for the balance of the day.)

The local newspaper had several stories today about the incident, the international reaction of the media and the public, including how the media learned of the suspension in the first place (hint: Kevin called the newspaper himself), and the possible review of the cell phone policy to address this situation.

Read the Muscogee County School District's press statement on the subject here (.pdf file).

Kevin seems to be admitting that he was abusive and disorderly, and that is the reason he was suspended, not the call itself. If he had notified the school that his mother is in Iraq and might call him, he could have made arrangements to receive the call, whenever it came, and perhaps the whole matter could have been avoided.

If there is any high school in Columbus that could empathize with Kevin and his situation, it is Spencer High. It's practically on Fort Benning, and most of the students are children of the soldiers who live nearby. The assistant principal to whom Terri wrote, Alfred Parham, is a former Army major.

I just think it's important to understand that his suspension isn't some crazy "zero-tolerance" rule gone amok, but is a punishment for something he actually did.

Disorderly to the extent that it was an arrestable offense and therefore a basis for the increase in days of suspension from 3 to 10 is a real stretch. It would never hold in a court of law. While I expect the little monsters to shut up and do what they are told at school, I also expect the teachers and administrators not to act like asshats.

C Dubya: you send me three thousand dollars to get this insurance lien off my license and then a couple thousand for a down payment and I'll be glad to buy a car. I take Paypal.

I mean "See-Dubya." Don't know why I keep thinking your name is "C."

Its morons like these who make me seriously consider home-schooling for the little demons.
I wonder if my sanity is worth them being under their control for 8 hours a day for 12 years.

The libs have succeeded in totally driving out any sense of perspective from schools. Look at that 5 year old they had to call the cops in to handcuff. A quick spank on the bottom would've straightened her out right quick, but nooo, corporal punishment is bad.
Then again given these morons, maybe its better for the cops to come in .
They should just scrap public ed and make people pay for it themselves.

Don't home school your little demons.

Send them to public school so when they are mistreated by the evil liberal cabal of educators, you can get on The Factor and express your outrage over this appalling turn of events.

If you home schooled, then your children wouldn't have access to the press when you made a misjudgment or when you spanked them. In fact, your children would have no need to call you on a barred cell phone.

And where would those of who require being appalled on a regular basis go?

Cell phones are a major distraction in meetings or classrooms. Not discussed, but it must be, is the loss of learning that the other 29 of 30 students suffer if some 8-year old black girl starts having an out of control tantrum and throwing things and they stop teaching for a fucking hour, throw all the behaving students out of class, and concentrate only on efforts to calm her down. Or a cell phone call comes in from a distraught BF or GF that MUST be propitiated....

Remove disruptive kids immediately and don't screw 30 students to pander to one.

Have REASONABLE policies. No cell phone use in class, or no use other than a significant emergency - with parents 1st trying going through the principal's office. Phones off in class or set on vibrate, not audible ring. In certain schools, it is reasonable that a student could get a call,listen, announce to the teacher "Family emergency, sorry, I'm going to the principal's office" and step out of class, without the disruption of a student-teacher confrontation....with the teacher and the school following up to verify the kid wasn't BS'ing.

It could have been worse. It could have been a frantic mother saying the kid's Dad was in an accident, is critical, and the kid needs to get a cab to the hospital ASAP. And what if that call was terminated before the Mom could get her emergency message out by an officious teacher snatching the phone away and disconnecting it - because the kid was there to learn about frog physiology, and fuck the outside world??? I'd be (kid & Mom) going snakeshit over that...

"I'd be (kid & Mom) going snakeshit..."

Hmmm...

Thought you had already accomplished that particular task.

"Cell phones are a major distraction in meetings or classrooms. Not discussed, but it must be, is the loss of learning that the other 29 of 30 students suffer if some 8-year old black girl starts having an out of control tantrum . . ."

And that's when I realized I was reading one of Cedarford's posts.

"but a teacher, who is "just enforcing the rules""

This defense is not without precedence. Of course, it didn't work so well at Nuremburg.

Point of clarification, Alfred Parham was not a Major in the Army.

According to an Investigator, Alfred Parham got an Administrative Discharge.

During October 2005 Alfred Parham decided to send me a threatening letter. I see that my ex-husband has not changed at all. Alfred did not know that I had contacted the Gov. of Georgia and the Gov. has approved a 2 million dollar budget and up-dated policies and procedues for Child Support. Not only does Parham owe back Child Support, Parham has interest attached to the Child Support money due. Parham saw to it that I never got the military portion due and none of our investments.