Call from Iraq ends in student”s suspension

COLUMBUS, Ga. – A student’s use of a cell phone to answer a call from his mother deployed in Iraq has spawned a national outcry and led the school district to consider shortening his suspension.

Kevin Francois, 17, a junior at Spencer High School in Columbus, was suspended for disorderly conduct Wednesday after he was told to give up his cell phone during lunchtime while talking to his mother, Sgt. 1st Class Monique Bates of Fort Benning’s 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.

Karen Jones, the school board’s secretary, said school district offices were swamped with hundreds of phone calls and e-mails complaining about the suspension. She said Superintendent John Phillips will allow the student back in school Monday, “but this is predicated on a satisfactory meeting with him, his guardian and the administration.”

Meanwhile, the Muscogee County School Board has said it will review its policy that prohibits students from using cell phones during school hours without permission.

Francois said he called the school Friday to return to Spencer. He said Assistant Principal Alfred Parham told him the school needed to talk to his guardian, not him. But Francois’ guardian was at work, he said.

Francois admits he previously has been suspended for “playing around” in class.

Parham said the school was overwhelmed with calls to the point the phone was taken off the hook. Parham, a former U.S. Army major, said the student was disorderly after the teacher told him to give up the phone.

“His initial suspension was for three days for cursing and being defiant,” Parham said. “The punishment for a cell phone is that we take it up and give it to you at the end of the day.”

Parham said Francois’ behavior has been “a chronic problem.” His suspension was extended because “he did not want to accept the three-day suspension and to agree that he would not use the cell phone openly or curse.”

A meeting is set for Monday morning with Francois, his guardian, a representative from the mother’s Fort Benning unit and school officials.

“I think what has happened is that America may have seemed outraged because of the way it appeared, and I can appreciate that,” Parham said.

The incident started when Kevin said he received a call from his mother at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday during his lunch break. Francois said he went outside the school building to get a better reception when his mother called. Francois said a teacher, Felicita Pescia, saw him on his phone and told him to get off the phone. But he didn’t. He said he told her, “This is my mom in Iraq. I’m not about to hang up on my mom.”

Pescia is a 20-year educator and was Spencer’s 2004 Teacher of the Year. Francois said she demanded he give the phone to her. But he refused.

He said Pescia tried to take the phone, causing it to hang up. Pescia couldn’t be reached for comment.

Francois said he went with Pescia to the school’s office, where a secretary took it out of his hand. By then, Francois’ mother called again at 12:37 p.m. and left a message scolding him about hanging up and telling him to answer the phone when she calls.

Parham disagrees with François’s version. He said Francois was in the hallway when Pescia saw him talking on his cell phone and did not tell the teacher he was speaking with his mother in Iraq until he was taken to the office.