*We can only shake our collective heads at what’s happening to a straight-A honor student who is facing a possible 10-day in-school suspension all because he unknowingly used counterfeit money to purchase his lunch.
The school is even considering this punishment in spite of the student’s parents filing a police report regarding the counterfeit $20 bill.
Here’s the deal: Christian Philon, 12, and his parents told school officials they had no idea that a $20 bill that his father, a retired veteran, got back as change from a fast food restaurant was fake, according to Yahoo News.
The child’s mother, Gwen Philon, told WSB-TV, “If we knew it, he wouldn’t have had it, but we didn’t know.”
Here’s what the father, Earvin Philon, told the TV station:
I’ve never handled counterfeit money. I don’t know what it looks like.”
Christian Philon was attempting to pay for his meal at Austin Road Middle School in Stockbridge, Ga., when the lunch lady marked the bill with a counterfeit detecting ink.
?I was confused on how the money was counterfeit. And how my parents received it,? the 12-year-old told WSB.
by the way, an in-school suspension differs from an out-of-school one because students are still under the supervision of a school authority. Students are able to interact with teachers, administrators and counselors more closely. As a result, a qualified adult is more able to understand any issues that the student is going through that my have led to bad behavior.
However, if you’re saying to yourself that in this case, the suspension seems unjust and unnecessary, you could very well be on to something. That’s because despite the mistake and the filing of a police report, Christian was still given the 10-day in-school suspension because the school’s bottom line is … based on their own words:
“You possessed it, so you’re going to have to pay for it,” Christian told WSB-TV.
