Black honor student gets suspended after unintentionally using fake money to pay for lunch

A black student's parents cry foul after their 12-year-old son was suspended for unknowingly paying for his lunch in school with counterfeit money.

A black student was suspended for using counterfeit money to pay for his lunch. The sad part is he was not aware the money was fake.

Christian Philon is a 12-year-old honor student at Austin Road Middle School who was caught by surprise when the money he paid for his lunch turned out to be fake.

Christian’s confusion began when the lady at his school’s lunch counter marked his $20 bill with a counterfeit pen and it registered as fake. He said he had no idea how the money he received from his parents was bogus.

His father, Earvin Philon was surprised himself and recalled acquiring the bill from his change at a fast food restaurant. He insisted he was not aware the money was counterfeit when he handed it out to his son.

CONTESTING AN UNFAIR PUNISHMENT

Unfortunately for Christian, he was subjected to a 10-day suspension after the incident. The young boy is an honor student who’s also an athlete.

“The whole process has been unfair,” Christian says to WSB-TV.

Despite his parents’ efforts at clearing him from punishment after reporting the counterfeit bill to the police, the school board decided Christian had violated the institution’s code of conduct in relation to the possession of counterfeit money. Their point, according to Christian’s mother, Gwen Philon was that their son “possessed it.”

During their television interview, the Philons said they plan to appeal Christian’s case and push for the amendment of the school’s regulations about counterfeit money so other innocent children like their son wouldn’t suffer the same fate.

Schools have a responsibility to uphold the rules stated in their handbook but sometimes parents question how these rules are implemented. In the case of Christian, though he possessed counterfeit money, he confessed he was unaware it was when he paid for his lunch. Thus, his parents think it’s unfair for his school to land a suspension on him.

ANOTHER STUDENT QUESTIONS HER SCHOOL PUNISHMENT

Similarly, a senior student from Hickory Ridge High School cried foul when she was suspended due to a clash with the principal regarding a shirt she wore to school. The principal called the attention of the student named Summer when she wore an off the shoulder top which is against school policy. Though Summer solved the issue by wearing a jacket, the principal still insisted she change into something more appropriate. When Summer refused, the principal suspended her for insubordination and banned her for attending school activities including her graduation. Summer is an honor student who thought she was being punished unfairly.

TEEN CASHIER SUSPENDED FOR A KIND DEED

Even in the workplace, suspensions are unfairly handed out in spite of an employee meaning well. A teen cashier at a cookie store who offered to pay for a police officer’s cookie in gratitude found himself serving suspension time. After he treated the officer to a cookie, another man in line asked if he could also have a free cookie. When the teen denied him and explained it was only a kind deed to the officer, the man ranted on the teen for being racist and threatened to have him fired. Luckily for the teen, his manager stood up for him when the issue was raised to their superiors. However, instead of being fired, he was still suspended from the job for one week and asked never to pay for someone’s cookie again.