This has to be the height of stupidity and insensitivity!

[Steve]

---  Max <mygroupmail at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> Dear Members
> 
> ...
> Its totally outrageous!, can you imagine that you father is
> in the army..., then the  school where his children are, do 
> something like this... ... SHOCKED!
> 
> Regards
> Graham
> 
> 
> READ THIS!
> 
> Message: school suspends soldier's child for taking call dad's
> from Iraq
> ...
> Apr 16th 2008 
> Master Sgt. Morris Hill is serving his country in Iraq, ...
> 
> Unfortunately, the only time Hill could call his son Brandon
> was during the school day -- ... Brandon was suspended for 
> taking the call.
> 
> "He called me during class, because that's the only time that
> he could," Brandon said. "I answered the call as I was walking
> out of class. The teacher followed me out and said, 'Oh what 
> are you doing?' I said my dad was calling from Iraq, and I know
> he needs to talk to me." Brandon was sent to the office and 
> given a two-day suspension.
> 
> The odd part is that the father had apparently made an 
> arrangement in advance with the assistant principal to allow
> his sons to receive calls from him. "He had spoken with Mr. 
> Fletcher," said Pat Hill, the boys' mother. "He thought there
> was an agreement understood that if he called either Joshua 
> or Brandon at school, that everything was fine."
> ...

bboyminn:

This sounds like a clear cut case of 'Zero Tolerance' which I
have always taken to mean zero effort, zero brains, and zero
common sense. 

First, you should note that schools are absolutely resistant
to ever changing there mind, even when proven beyond any doubt
that the are absolutely wrong. It has to do with authority.
They feel that if they admit they are wrong, it undermines
their authority and that may be true, but it VERY MUCH
emphasizes their stupidity and that most certainly undermines
their authority. 

If the assistant principal agreed to this, then that should
settle it. However, if in disciplining the boy, he was overruled
by someone above him, then again, it a matter of getting an
authority figure to admit a mistake or to reverse a decision
(not matter how stupid), and that just doesn't happen.

You could take the matter before the school board, or you 
could threaten them with a lawyer. One possible 'lawyer'
might be to contact the American Civil Liberties Union and
see if they are interested, or at least see if they will
write a nasty letter or make a phone call on your behalf. 

Bad as it is, that is the life of a school kid. The world they
live in is far from a democracy.

Just a thought.

Steve/bboyminn