I found this artice at Sgt Lizzie's Blog .
Anyways the article just makes me laugh - what a bunch of morons. You suspend a kid for telling you to piss off when he gets a coveted phone call from Mom in Iraq? They made it out like they were doing the Mom a favour by not expelling him for his behavior instead. Wow, I bet he feels special – he wasn’t expelled. Come on guys, this must be a public school and just doesn't have the experience of dealing with children from a deployed family. I am not saying that he shouldn't be punished...I guess (well okay if he became violent), but for telling them to piss off in more colourful terms doesn't deserve suspension for two weeks from school.
I really feel for this young man. As mentioned in CaliValleyGirl's Blog, the phone calls you do get are only 15 minutes long and man do you wish you could stretch the minutes. I always say "I love you" a couple of times when I hear the two minute warning, but it always seems to hit you right in the pit of your stomach when the line goes dead two minutes later, mid sentence. Seriously, I know I have my cell phone on my person everywhere I go, even during office hours. I’ve watched several women duck out of meetings to take their 15 minute call and watch as a half dozen people in the meeting defend the person who left from the division chief's rants.
So instead of jumping on the track to crazytown folks - investigate a little more. That was probably the only time his mom could call and if I was teaching I'd let him finish the call. Then, later on I would make a call home to verify that he was telling the truth. If he wasn't then suspend him for lying to the faculty and make a public spectacle that lying about a deployed parent will not be tolerated. Do not suspend a kid for a natural reaction to be told to hang up on mom!
For some reason while typing this The Smith's song "Shoplifters of the world" keeps running through my head. Not sure that's the right anthem for him but okay its my musings right?
2 comments:
Yeah, sometimes I think that people are really twisted in their thinking too: "Support the Troops" means emotionally supprting their families, too.
GI Wife wrote about her son's class sending a care package to a soldier, but it was a complete stranger (not that they shouldn't be supported, but the idea of perhaps making it a class effort to make a care package for one of the student's fathers, who was also a deployed soldier, didn't figure into the teacher's plans): http://froggiesstory.blogspot.com/2005/05/chewy-gang.html
The school admin. also gets their panties twisted in a knot if the kids are late because they talked to their dad when he called.
People are so clueless sometimes.
By the way..cool URL...lol.
I teach classes to the military spouses about the problems that can arise during a deployment. Now some people laugh like its a joke and yes some of the other classes in the program are a little like first grade where common sense would apply and aren't really needed. But here in this situation you'd think the teachers and staff would get a little training or background on what to expect of the emotions and behaviors of their students?
Even I've noticed that I have to bring it down a notch sometimes when I get fired up. I am thinking that they are being unhelpful when I need to tell them that my life is twice the work (pluss grad school, plus fulltime work) and what can they do to help me reach my goal? So I know emotions get a little out of control at times.
As for forgetting to send gifts to their own family maybe they said they didn't want any? All I can say is you better send a thank you note!
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