this whole event baffles me, his mothers a hero for fighting in this war and shes not even allowed to talk to her son.

Where is the evidence that the teacher “escalated the confrontation”?

Trying to take the phone away is escalating the situation. Unless there is some really weird situation here I can't see how it can be anything other than taking an already delicate situation and increasing the tension. It was a dumb move.

Assuming that the kid’s story is true—what does it mean to “try to take the phone”? Asking the kid to give it to him? Physically taking? We have no idea. The teacher was enforcing legitmate (and, I would argue, essential) rules.

Well if the story is true, I think we can rule out "asking for the phone" since asking for a phone rarely causes phones to hang up.

The kid admits acting disrespectfully and does not deny the use of profanity. The teacher and the administrator both indicated that they were trying to deal rationally with the kid.

Only after agitating the kid. That's real bright. Let me see, I'll piss somebody off over a potentially highly emotional issue, then complain when the person I've pissed off isn't open to reason at that point.

I still think this problem could have been avoided. That it wasn't reflects poorly on the school and its administration. Was Kevin Francois out of line to use profanity and become disrupive? Sure, but then again so was the school for failing to do their job.

Let’s be brutally honest here, this is not some “child.” It’s a 17-year-old young adult.

Oh you are sooooooo right. After all, 17 year olds are such logic machines and so mature.

You don’t know the situation of the school he’s in, you don’t know his background, you don’t know his previous or current activity toward teachers.

Right, lets punish him for his past behavior!

Funny how people who will upbraid the media all the time about reporting lapses are so quick to latch onto a story when it fits into their particular lenses – especially if it’s a two-fer (anti-military persecution AND public school shenanigans! Oh Boy!)

You are so right! The teacher was right, the administrators were right. Hell, they should have called the cops on the kid and had him arrested.

I’m almost beginning to question my conservative credentials, because this sounds exactly like the sort of lunacy Bill O’Reilly tries to peddle all the time and people were upset about the Schiavo protestors who were overreacting.

That's okay, I'm well past the begining stage.

For my friend from Irvine, I am trying to portray the teachers perspective. He has no idea who is on the phone.

Well the supposedly the teacher was informed. Perhaps the teacher is like you kappiy and assumes students always lie. Of course that is a great way to build respect with students: assume students always lie.

The school board has a policy in place banning such behavior. If you see a student breaking a rule, your first reaction must be skepticism.

And therein lies the problem. What if in a classroom there was an emergency and the kid was calling 911. Suspend him? What if it was an emergency from home? We can play what if games all day here. The point is a simple rule with draconian enforcement can lead to bad outcomes in some instances.

Why would you believe a rule breaker? When the kid goes ballistic, it doesn’t help diffuse the situation.

And after being told that "it's my mom and she's in Iraq; I'm not hanging up," demanding the phone and trying to take it certainly wont help either will it?

I agree the kid handled the situation badly once it got the office, but the teacher and administration don't come out looking much better. Futher, I expect a 17 yo to act stupid. I expect adults who are probably 2x the kids age to not act stupid.

How absurd, and how unfortunately typical of today's public schools. I would like to see the idiot teacher take 10 days off to learn how to think and behave like an adult.

Let's be brutally honest here, this is not some "child." It's a 17-year-old young adult. You don't know the situation of the school he's in, you don't know his background, you don't know his previous or current activity toward teachers. In short, you (and I for that matter) don't know nearly enough details to lash out at the school district based upon the media story.

Funny how people who will upbraid the media all the time about reporting lapses are so quick to latch onto a story when it fits into their particular lenses - especially if it's a two-fer (anti-military persecution AND public school shenanigans! Oh Boy!)