Thread: High Schooler Suspended For Talking To Dad in Iraq

In case you're not familiar with Coppers Cove Texas it is a small or was a small town outside of Ft. Hood Texas. My husband was stationed there.


Texas School Suspends Student for Answering Call in Class From Dad in Iraq
*
*

A Texas sergeant and his son recently found themselves separated not only by an eight-hour time difference, several bodies of water, hundreds of miles and a war, but by a high school official who suspended the boy for answering his dad's call during class.
Cove High School in Texas, where half the students have at least one parent deployed, justified the punishment against Brandon Hill by saying he had violated the no-cell-phone policy when he took the call from his father, who is serving in Iraq.
"I have been going through a lot of stress lately and my dad’s like my best friend, so I go to him for everything," the sophomore told FOX News on Saturday.
"I needed to talk to him, so my mom got a hold of him on Yahoo and told him to call me, so I answered the phone call in class."

When he learned of his son’s punishment, Master Sgt. Morris Hill said he was unsettled.
"When my wife told me, I was pretty disturbed by it," he said in a phone call from Iraq.
"I was pretty shocked, considering that several months before we left I had talked to the … assistant principal and thought everything was fine," Morris Hill said.
"Since my kid’s been going to the school we’ve had a pretty good working relationship."
And when his mother, Patricia Hill, tried to contact school officials, she received no response until her son’s story garnered media attention.
The matter has since been resolved, Patricia Hill said, but she added that more must be done to protect children around the country from being punished in similar circumstances.

If I were an administrator, I'd ban cell phones in school. For heaven's sake - we weren't even allowed to have radios with earphones in study hall. Now they can have cell phones on in class?

Originally Posted by AngelaTC

If I were an administrator, I'd ban cell phones in school. For heaven's sake - we weren't even allowed to have radios with earphones in study hall. Now they can have cell phones on in class?

I think the point is this is an army town. Many of these students parents are deployed. I've lived there. I know. I think its great that we even have this technology now. I wish we had it back in other wars. I think there is a way to get around this and make exceptions. These guys can't call home that often when they are deployed. They are busy.

Perhaps the other parent can get the call first, call the principle and tell them a call will be coming in and have it relayed to the teacher and let the student know to leave the room when the call comes in. It won't happen that often. Seems the kid needed some guidance and support. No biggie!