School suspends boy for answering Iraq call from Dad

School administrations love hiding behind the fact something is a rule, so no individuals can be blamed for such atrocities, because it's so much easier to blame the kid for daring to think there just might be an exception to the rule.

Seriously? Come on...

they wernt teaching him anything anyways! i mean its texas! trust me he learned more by answering the call!

Yeah because texans don't know how to answer phones.... seriously?

huh?

Why does it seem that horrible stories come from Texas more than other places?

I find it hard to believe that a student would be suspended for this. I think it is time for everyone to take another look at what family means. At a time of war a student should be given some latitude as long as not to disturb other students. The boy talking to his father should have been able to dismiss himself from class to talk to his father. What if it was the last time he talked to him said I love you. surrounded his father with the words of encouragement that would take him through. I feel that we as a country are taking the good sense as people out of the situation. These men and women need our support and our contact. And as much as possible no matter how often the contact is or when it is. Anyone that would punish a person for talking to a soldier in a time of war is an asshole of the largest portion. As a matter of fact I believe you could most likely park a semi truck & trailer in that ass.

It's not like the kid was texting "LOL" to another kid across the classroom. Give him a break! That's his dad!

Rules are made to be broken; they should always have exceptions. People who enforce rules are too uptight; and their enforcement often spurs resentment, fear, and violent retaliation.

What's more surprising is that Fox showed interest in a story like this. It may be just because they want to distract people from fact they are total jerks.

do people still watch faux news?

As an educator for the last 24 yeas NOTHING surprises me anymore about the lack of common sense exhibited by some administrators. Rules are NOT "made to be broken" BUT we are in the "education business" .. what did this young man learn? Simple: there is NOBODY at that school who cares about him and his real world needs.

lame.

I don't even have a no-cell-phone rule. I'm allowed to pick up the phone in most my class, just be quite bout it. Common, does 5 min. of missed out class really kill his marks?

Seriously... This kid should have been suspended... If there was a rule, then he should have to follow it. Why should there be excetions? I mean sure it sucks that his dad is Iraq and he doesn'y get to see him. But his dad knows when he has school. You shouldn't have your phone in class anyway. Stop blaming the teachers for not teaching and start blaming the students that want to think they can do whatever they want during class.

seriously? you're a kid and you've been separated from your father for god knows how long who can only call you during certain periods of time in a place where he could die at any moment...and you are not going to answer the call? i'd tell my teacher off and answer the phone

I am sorry, rules are rules. His mother should have contacted the school and advised them of this and the principal would have allowed him to be excused from class until the call was made and completed. We have to go by the rules in this country, if not everybody will be using their cell phones and using that as an excuse.

I have seen children get suspended for less. A 6-7 year old hugging a classmate. Come on we have to teach our children to follow the rules.

i think all the other kids need to start taking calls in school to stand by this kid. the kid is well within his rights.

This is crazy. In a school where most kids have parents in Iraq, the school administrator should have different mind set on this situation. School administrators can be heartless and selfish. They want to look good for the principal and the board of education. They forget that their job is to look out for these kids on all levels.
This brings up a question: In a school where most kids have parents in Iraq, are the kids offered any type of counseling that’s not offered in most other schools.

I am from Texas and it is true a lot of sad stories come from my state. But this is awful!

Its a sad sad day when you get in trouble for talking to your dad. Even if the father wasn't in Iraq, many of us rarely get to speak to our biological fathers. How in absurdity can this be a punishable act?

There is no gray, only black and white, you either with us or your a terrorist. Honestly, cant the school find something better to do than punish a kid for talking to his dad who happens to be in a fucking war zone at the moment?

People suck...

this war is far different from any previous war.

Hey! Come on, now. If the teacher allows this kid to answer his phone in class... then he/she will have to allow another student to answer their phone when they're called... and another... and another... and then everyone will be talking on their cell phones in class and nobody will ever learn anything!

I hope I made the slippery slope obvious enough. Haha.

LaWingman, you do realize that this article is about a school in texas, right? its not like they learn much anyways. jk all you find folks from texas.

mbachman1 wrote:

But his dad knows when he has school. You shouldn't have your phone in class anyway.


Do you honestly think that soldiers can phone home on their cell phone anytime they damn well please? Dude, what planet are you living on? The soldiers are like prisoners when it comes to making phone calls, they get an alloted time....off duty to make such communications or write letters. Also Iraq is on the other side of the world. When the dad called the son, it was probably nighttime and he had to wait till he was off duty to call.

Cheche201 wrote:

We have to go by the rules in this country, if not everybody will be using their cell phones and using that as an excuse.

Perhaps if we made didn't have so many rigid and unjust rules then their wouldn't be the backlash of defiance, rebellion and lawlessness that currently seems to be escalating with a vengeance.

Injustice has ruled this country with an iron fist, and ever more so now under the Bush/Cheney regime. They have elevated injustice and cruelty to an art.

You are one of the sheep who will blindly follow their leaders right off a cliff if the herd was charging in that direction, just because the rule is "run when the rest of the sheep run?"

Laws and rules only work when those who follow them do so because they respect the truth and justice of that law and so comply with a cheerful heart.

i was over in iraq from march '06 to august of '07. i stayed up late dozens of time just so i could call home. late meaning midnight-4am. you dont really know when you will get to use the phone. you never call during the day, because thats when everyone is on duty and personal calls are not permitted. so you call at night when EVERYONE is off duty. and there are only a few dozen phones to use. it makes perfect sense that the kid received the phone call when he did. and he definitely should not be punished for it. i mean seriously, its not like he was txt'ing his homeboys or anything. it was his dad. an american hero.

This zero tolerance crapzilla has gone too far.

The teacher should have shown some compassion to the kid, and allowed him to continue his conversation outside the class where it wouldn't be a disruption. Why punish him for talking to his dad halfway across the world?

Not to mention the father discussed this situation with school officials before he left. In addition, this is not an isolated situation as many students across the country have had to deal with similar suspension problems due to phone calls from Iraq.

Schools just don't give a damn about the kids they teach or about what goes on in thier lives. So rules be damned, if my parent was in a war zone where they can only talk to me at certain times and thier phone call was the only way I can tell they're still alive, then I would answer my cell in class as well.

this BS really makes the US look good . like : "sorry you're at war dad , i'm at school - we'll have to talk later , if you're still around "

I guess some people think that they don't need to have any compassion for anyone that is serving in Iraq.

this is just a lame ass school that should have been a little nicer with the fact that a father should be able to talk to his son...

if he were in the same place he could rightfully excuse him out of school, right?

LAME-O

ok so... just cause the kids dad is far away, he gets to have an exeption? I think not, what about the kid who's dad works 2 jobs just to support the family.. that kid doesn't get to see his dad either. So he she get to recieve phone calls from his dad during class. I understand that his dad is far away and all but seriously, call the school, can you understand how much of a distraction that is to the teacher, to the other kids learning, and to himself. If you want our kids to be smart then we need to keep them concentrating on what they are supposed to be ( maybe they were learning about wars that we should have been involved in ). That one phone call could have caused his whole class to miss out on some important topic, who knows it might have changed one of their lives, but now they don't get the chance cause that kid thought it would be gravy to have his phone in school. Oh and what about the kid who's dad died, should we open up the ability to shout out prayer's in the middle of class too?

mbachman1 has it spot on. The kid shouldn't have had his cell phone in class to begin with, and if the mom was orchestrating this, why didn't she just keep him home that day? I don't think anyone would find issue with that.

Call me callous, but If this kid wants to talk to his dad, he should have to weigh the consequences vs. the benefits.

There are always going to be situations like this. If you are too afraid to get in trouble to pick up, fine. But, If you know that talking to your deployed father is worth it, press that green button, but don't complain when you get in trouble.

It seems that no one has any compassion anymore. If there is people in this world with some of the closed minded, rules are rules attitude, then i don't know how optimistic I can be about our future!!

Rabidlemur,

People do suck.

Suspension my be a harsh punishment but the kid must have known he was in jeopardy of getting in trouble and he made a conscious decision to answer the phone.

I think it is right that the kid be punished for breaking the rule. Kids need to learn there are consequences for defying the rules. I also say helluva job to that kid taking the call from his dad regardless of the consequences. He needs to man up and accept what he has coming from it now, not look back, and NOT regret what he did in this case. Good on him, some things in life are worth taking a few lumps for. I honestly hope his family feels the same way, it's a good way for the kid to learn some responsibility for his actions AND get to spend a little time talking to his dad while he's serving over seas. Stop making such a huge deal about it and move on people, seriously.

Hey, Liberal_Extinction ... give us all the details of the last time you defied the rules and were willing to "man up". Or will the next time be the first time??

Actually, I'm not afraid to admit when I made a mistake, it's called personal responsibility. I honestly don't expect the majority of you moral relativists to understand that. I'm not asking anything of anyone that I'm not willing to do myself. I'm not condemning the kid one bit for taking the call from his father, I'd have done the same and would have hoped my kid would have done the same. That doesn't mean that I'd expect to face no consequence for breaking the rules. You know as well as I do that the rules regarding cel-phones in the classroom prevent FAR more disruption than just this kid taking a call from his dad. I'm sure your butt buddies at the ACLU would find some reason to sue b/c some kid couldn't take a call from his girlfriend or pot dealer if they let this kid off for taking a call from his dad. I'm glad the kid took the call from his dad and respect that as long as he'll move on and act like a big boy about it instead of making it some idiotic media spectacle. I'm sure it will just become another anti-war cry for the left at some point anyway.