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http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/06/call.suspension.ap/index.html

You know? I'd become "disorderly" and "out of control" too if someone told me to hang up on my deployed loved one.

When I started reading before getting all the facts I was like, well if he did it in school and the rule was no cellphones then I don't give a s**t who he was talking to, he broke the rule..

BUT THEN

I read that it was during LUNCHTIME and phones were allowed on campus. So WTF. Because he told a teacher no? Probably provoked to foul language by said teacher? School is out of line in this case.

Well, I'm going to play devil's advocate.

I understand it's wonderful to want to talk to your family that's deployed, but did the kid give the school any warning? If it was that much of an issue, he should have went and talked to the administrator, BEFORE hand, they could have held the cell phone in the front office and paged him in case she did call. Then though, that opens up worms. How many times is she going to call during school hours?

I'm not saying either was in the right on this one. Since school is almost over for most places, the could have allowed the paging system to work. The mother shouldn't have yelled at her son for hanging up, he was at school. I understand she wants to talk to her baby boy, but it wasn't his fault.

According the CNN website, it said cell phones are allowed, but not to be used during school hours. Technically, most places consider lunch hour school time. We don't know all the circumstances, but if he just whipped it out in the middle of the cafeteria like that, it probably wasn't the best of ideas. But we don't know the full situation.

The teacher was doing their job. I mean, he might not have known she was deployed or assumed the student was lying. We don't know if they've had previous problems before with this student. Usually, they recommend talking to the school first before deploying. If there wasn't enough time, whoever his caretaker was should have done so to clear the issue.

I mean, it's sad that he couldn't talk to his mom right then and there, but there's so much unknown about it. I know I would be pissed if someone told me I couldn't talk to my deployed loved one, so his reaction was (even though we don't know what it is) warranted, but this situation probably could have been easily avoided with common sense and thinking ahead.

Just playing middle of the roader here. xd

In the beginning of 8th grade it was the 2nd day of school. So at lunch my friend took his cell phone out and ordered a large pizza. Then the pizza came and everyone was suprised. He lost his money and the pizza.

I don't think phones would be allowed on campus period if there weren't times they were acceptable to be used like lunch hour when most high schools allow students to go off campus as well. So I would argue that lunch time is probably fair game to use it there.

I sympathise with the boy on this one. A couple people have brought up he should have told someone she was going to call but we all know that he had now way of knowing that she would. Chris used to call me at work all the time even though he wasn't supposed to because it was the ONLY TIME HE COULD CALL. Not everyone in Iraq gets regular phone time to call and can do it on a regular schedule or basis. Those soldiers call when they can and for all we know, the last time she talked to her son may have been weeks ago and if that's the case, I wouldn't have let him get off the phone either. Not everyone has regular email or phone access. I averaged a phone call about once every 10 days and I got a whole 3 emails and 4 letters while Chris was out. The people who have regular contact should consider themselves lucky.

It could very well have been that they hadn't talked in a long time and this was the first chance his mother had to call. You wouldn't want to hang up either.

I didn't read anything about his father being dead. Perhaps she's just a single mom. It seems obvious he has some other relatives in his life that make up for the fact that his father is not there.

I'm not saying I have it worse than those who had spouses deployed and couldn't talk as much or didn't get R&R. I always get those people who like to remind me how much worse their experience was, etc. etc.

I feel sorry for him, really I do, but this is a school right by Ft. Benning, parents being deployed is not an uncommon thing. Of course he's saying the school's story is different from his, but why would they single him out? I think it's always too easy to assume it's the school fault and so on.

The article also clearly said that the teacher did NOT know that it was his deployed mother on the phone. I honestly feel if that's true the teacher did her job. I stand by that he and his guardian should have thought of these things ahead of time. I understand those precious calls are few and far between for some, but I don't think he should do whatever whenever because of a phone. A lot of people don't even get a phone call. We don't know the situation like I said before. But the more I read it, the more I'm kinda eh on it. I can't stress we don't know and we're assuming.

For all we know he's a punk kid who talks to his mom several times a week. I'm not saying he is, but that's the other side of the fence.

His anger is certainly understandable, but that's why it's important in light of deployments to think ahead of time (I'm aware that not all people have the luck to have time to prepare all their affairs). Whoeever is his custodial guardian should have spoken with the school about this. If the mother has been deployed since January, it seems like somewhere in the past 4 months the issue could have been addressed.

Oh well, I guess it's better than reading the news about how many dead over there today.

In the highschool I went to we were allowed to have cellphones because of after school activities and the fact the public phones didn't always work right. We just couldn't have them on during school hours. It was also because of Columbine. Our school had a really bad bully problem for a while. It still does, but it's toned down a lot.

Unfortunately, it was during school time (yes lunch is usually considered during school hours) which is against the rules. Personally I feel that is a really appropriate rule. Cell phones are a fact of life and really are useful. But they have their time and place, like any other tool. They should not be allowed to take over everything. Teaching is a hard enough job as it is without any more distractions.

The other thing is that the student got disorderly about a simple request. Seeing how students are now, it just shocks me how confrontational and unrulely they are under normal circumstances. I don't blame the teacher one bit, except for the part about the grabbing the phone and hanging it up. However, I have to say that I would have been tempted in that situation.