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2005-05-06 Home Front: Culture Wars

HS Kid Suspended - Swore at teacher demanding Hang up - on cell call w/ Mom from IRAQ

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Posted by BigEd 2005-05-06 14:06|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 This is the sort of thing that really ticks me off about educators. Its, also, the mind set that can be used to wrap them around your finger....

Posted by 3dc 2005-05-06 14:12|| 2005-05-06 14:12|| Front Page Top

#2 ''Kevin got defiant and disorderly,'' Parham said. ''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.

In Columbus.....Georgia! Maybe we should post the school district phone number so they can be familiarized with barrack vocabulary.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-05-06 14:28|| 2005-05-06 14:28|| Front Page Top

#3 Sound like a case for the local VFW or American Legion to plant themselves outside the school and demand a retraction and apology.

Posted by Tom 2005-05-06 14:32|| 2005-05-06 14:32|| Front Page Top

#4 Mrs. D. You mean this Info?
Spencer High School
Address: 4340 Victory Drive, Columbus, GA 31903
Principal: Olivia Rutledge
Telephone: (706)685-7652

Posted by BigEd 2005-05-06 14:33|| 2005-05-06 14:33|| Front Page Top

#5 Principal: ''There are puppies and kittens on schools grounds in violation of my zero tolerance to disease-carrying wild animals! Get me my hobnail boots!''
Secretary: ''Do you really think it's a good idea to stamp on puppies and kitties in front of the children and those newspaper photographers?''
Principal: ''Of course it is! We want to show everybody that we take our policies seriously! Or else tomorrow our campus will be crawling with lions and tigers and crocodiles and man-eating squid!''

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-05-06 14:34|| 2005-05-06 14:34|| Front Page Top

#6 The confrontation Wednesday began after the 17-year-old junior got a call at lunchtime from his mother

It was even freakin' during class???? That could be the only excuse I'd think of, and even then, the teacher should ask him to take into the hall. But at lunch? WTF? If the kid swore, maybe he deserves some punishment, but it was during lunch...what was the teach doing monitoring him that closely then? Another case of the leftie ''Zero Tolerance Policy'' at work. Don't wanna make a decision, so NO ONE gets to use a cell phone during school hours! Wonder what the ghosts of Columbine would have to say about that?

Posted by BA">BA 2005-05-06 14:34|| 2005-05-06 14:34|| Front Page Top

#7 Oops, I mean it wasn't during class?

Posted by BA">BA 2005-05-06 14:35|| 2005-05-06 14:35|| Front Page Top

#8 I'm sure that many Rantburgers are aware that Columbus, GA is where Ft. Benning is located. That is Ft. Benning as in ''The Home of the Infantry - Follow Me''. How friggin insensitive is the idiot teacher? There must be a significant percentage of the students whose parents are in the military with lots of them currently deployed. What jerks.

Posted by remoteman 2005-05-06 14:52|| 2005-05-06 14:52|| Front Page Top

#9 RM: I'd agree. I'd almost understand if it was somewhere nowhere near a base and during class (like the kid's lying to cut class). But this is Columbus, a truly military town if there is one.

Posted by BA">BA 2005-05-06 15:01|| 2005-05-06 15:01|| Front Page Top

#10 I was in a Domino's a couple of months ago, when the girl waiting on me got a call on her cell from her boyfriend in Iraq.
I had no problems waiting for my pizza.

Posted by tu3031 2005-05-06 15:06|| 2005-05-06 15:06|| Front Page Top

#11 Mrs. D. You mean this Info?
Spencer High School
Address: 4340 Victory Drive, Columbus, GA 31903
Principal: Olivia Rutledge
Telephone: (706)685-7652

Posted by BigEd 2005-05-06 15:19|| 2005-05-06 15:19|| Front Page Top

#12 Comment/Press release from school board found at:
http://www.mcsdga.net/news/SpencerStatement06-May051_2_.pdf

They claim the student didn't tell them he was talking to his mom

Posted by Fod 2005-05-06 15:56|| 2005-05-06 15:56|| Front Page Top

#13 I claim NEA Bu||$#!+.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-05-06 16:08|| 2005-05-06 16:08|| Front Page Top

#14 BigEd, thanks for the info. Using the WWW, I was so glad to find the website for the school at this link. From the website, I was able to learn that the principal even wants to be contacted at her e-mail, orutledge@mcsdga.net

I will oblige her.

P.S. I'm not buying the story being put out by the school (which Iâm passing on to Rutledge and Kendall). While each person's story look great until examined by another, I am really suspicious when a governmental agency disseminates highly charged statements that are totally self-serving and might tend to tarnish the reputation of one of the agency's wards. I'd rather hear those kinds of recriminations from the student himself, or not at all.

Posted by cingold 2005-05-06 16:14|| 2005-05-06 16:14|| Front Page Top

#15 They claim the student didn't tell them he was talking to his mom

Assuming that the kid did get his call at lunchtime, why does the school care about who he's talking to? Screw the ''behavior contract''; enrolling in another school someplace else might be in order. Interestingly enough, the press release made no mention of when the call was received.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-05-06 16:21|| 2005-05-06 16:21|| Front Page Top

#16 I was going to disagree with most of the comments, because what sets DoD schools above civilian schools is that discipline problems are few, and the military parent is truly responsible for the acts of the child. This sets up a problem free atmosphere much more conducive to learning than almost any public school. Even if this was not formally a DoD school, it would largely be funded by the DoD, the military kids know what is expected of them by virtue of attendance of on-base schools.

But upon reading the story, the kid 'said he told the teacher, ''This is my mom in Iraq. I'm not about to hang up on my mom.'''. At that point any reasonable teacher would have backed off and let him finish the call. It is a testament to the dull, unimaginative administration of this school that allowed a small thing to escalate to suspension and resentment in the kid.

If I were in charge, I would have the boy apologize to the teacher for swearing and have the teacher tell the boy he/she will be more understanding in the future. End of case.

Posted by ed 2005-05-06 16:37|| 2005-05-06 16:37|| Front Page Top

#17 i'm in GA , how bout i just have my wife whoop the liberal assholes ass

Posted by Thraing Hupoluper1864 2005-05-06 17:00|| 2005-05-06 17:00|| Front Page Top

#18 The facts are not in much dispute in this case, but the timing and context is.

Before a fatwa is issued on this teacher and this school (and asking you to set aside any NEA=neo-marxist baggage), I give a gentle reminder that you are deciding to take the word of an adult supervisor over the word of a teen-ager.

This might be exactly like it appears in this story, but I'd be cautious.

I mean, I can't be the only one that spun their story once being sent to the high school Big House.

Posted by Scott 2005-05-06 17:28|| 2005-05-06 17:28|| Front Page Top

#19 Scott, I'm not sure where you're headed. I'll go with Ed. There should have been apologies all around. The teacher mad an understandable mistake. The kid reacted in an understandably inappropriate way. Offestting penalties.

But instead, the thugs who run this school in Columbus, GA, an Army town, want to put the whole blame on the kid and then ask for credit because they didn't want to cause the kid's mom, who is halfway around the world making it possible for them to live without fear every moment of their waking day and sleeping might, any undue hardship so they give the kid a 10 day suspension and national publicity instead of having him arrested. This is an example of the kind of contempt and arrogance our children face every day from the idiotarian members of the NEA who terrorize our classrooms. What the hell is this mom supposed to do for 10 days while her kid can't go to school and is just hanging around the house open loop? I for one am fed up with them. I hope somebody puts a tack on that teacher's chair on Monday.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-05-06 17:50|| 2005-05-06 17:50|| Front Page Top

#20 I left an email suggesting the Peter principle is firmly established on teh admin ladder at the school. Bet the weekend email-lanche will blow the server up on the school

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-05-06 18:28|| 2005-05-06 18:28|| Front Page Top

#21 I'd pay very close attention to what Scott said. Being Army kidz also makes them more worldly and damn tricky.

Posted by Shipman 2005-05-06 18:31|| 2005-05-06 18:31|| Front Page Top

#22 Pappy?

Posted by Shipman 2005-05-06 18:32|| 2005-05-06 18:32|| Front Page Top

#23 I'm sorry, I meant to say ''the word of a teen-ager over the word of an adult supervisor.'' I even previewed. :-(

Shipman hit my main point. I have plenty of teacher friends in Kansas, (which are far from the NEA-poster freaks that some of you want to paint them all as -- most of them Dole Republicans) which tell me the horror stories they have to deal with on a daily basis.

Students who are savvy at ''gaming the system.'' Parents who will stick up for their kids, and believe the most unbelievable crap because ''my little Johnnie would never lie.'' Yea, right.

I have two friends that have worked at the Junction City high school outside of Ft. Riley, Kansas (base of the Big Red One). I wish every military child was the epitome of the honor and commitment of their parents, but it's one of the least desirable jobs in the state. Discipline and drug problems galore.

I guess those stories have jaded me. Perhaps I'm biased. But before trying to destroy this high school's Web site in rightous anger, all I'm saying is:

Without all the facts, without being there, without a first-hand account of the timing and tone of these events, take a moment to consider; do you take the word of a 30-year-old or a 16-year-old as gospel?

Posted by Scott 2005-05-06 18:57|| http://balticblog.blogspot.com/]">[http://balticblog.blogspot.com/] 2005-05-06 18:57|| Front Page Top

#24 Scott, I am accepting it as fact that the teen was talking to his mother in Iraq. Otherwise we wouldn't be getting the not wanting to cause the mother undue hardship line. After that, I'll accept everything the school says and still conclude it was stupid and disproportionate to suspend the kid for 10 days.

I live in a town with a big, for us, military installation. I know these kids aren't angels. Neither are the natives. But we're talking about a teen whose mother is, like every other American in Iraq, literally on the front line in a conflict where people are getting killed every day. Its a teenager who, when class gets boring as it so often does, daydreams about what might happen, including mom coming home in a pine box. That's one reason among many others I think women should not be in the military. But I'm in the minority on that one, so given that that's what we're going to do, let's at least give the kids who have to suffer this a little slack. A week's detention should have been plenty.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-05-06 19:26|| 2005-05-06 19:26|| Front Page Top

#25 I do not understand the logic of this or any other suspension. It leaves the kid with nothing productive to do and days of less education. If the kid skipped even one day on his own it would be truancy and an offense, but somehow the schools seem to dish out days and days of non-productive time and that's okay. Better some ''community service'' within the school.

Posted by Tom 2005-05-06 19:50|| 2005-05-06 19:50|| Front Page Top

#26 I'll sort of echo Scott (I'm in education, albeit the K-6 levels, outside a large base). As for taking the word of a 30 year old teacher or a 16-year old student, it depends on who they are. It's a mixed bag on both sides of the equation (we have a high school teacher who earns extra cash - as a dancer, and one who fights bitterly with every school administrator over every little thing at every school she's worked, but she's too senior to be canned and not senior enough to be retired).

Sounds like a major misunderstanding all around. Let them deal with it

Posted by Pappy 2005-05-06 20:51|| 2005-05-06 20:51|| Front Page Top

#27 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.''

should someone who says ''conversating'' be allowed in a school, much less in an educational capacity?

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-05-06 22:11|| 2005-05-06 22:11|| Front Page Top

#28 W/all due respect to students trying to bend the truth their way,it is the statements attributed to the Assistant Principal that show how badly the school over-reacted. Note he says the kid didn't curse until he was sent to Principals' office. Second he said the choice for a student who didn't do what a teacher said and then cursed in the Principals' office is TO GO TO JAIL or be suspended? Whatever happened to detention? To making students clean desks,mop floors,etc.? This reads to me as a petty man throwing the book at some kid who didn't show enough respect.
Doesn't excuse the kid who had to have his cell phone ON to receive a call-unless he knew when his mom was going to call,in which case he should have made arrangements w/the school.

Posted by Stephen 2005-05-06 22:25|| 2005-05-06 22:25|| Front Page Top

23:57 3dc
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23:33 Alaska Paul
23:33 tu3031
23:29 AJackson
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