Let's Not Rush to Burn Down the School, OK?

Some wingnuts seem to be going nuts over a story that a teenager has been suspended because he took a call from his mother serving in Iraq, against school policy.

But read on in this story from CNN:

COLUMBUS, Georgia (AP) -- A high school student was suspended for 10 days for refusing to end a cell phone call with his mother, a soldier serving in Iraq, school officials said.

The 10-day suspension was issued because Kevin Francois was "defiant and disorderly" and was imposed in lieu of an arrest, Spencer High School assistant principal Alfred Parham said.

The kid was not suspended because he took the call but because he went batshit when he was told to end the call. Nor was he told to end the call immediately; other reports say he spoke for several minutes before being asked - finally - to end the call.

Yes, I understand that the mother probably can't always choose when to call her son. But I think schools have a right to insist that calls not come in during school hours. Personally, I'd be tempted to ban cell phones from a school, myself.

To treat this as a case of a school abusing its power is ridiculous. If the kid had not really lost it - some reports say he became physically threatening and used excessive profanity - there would have been no trouble.