Student Out for Months Over Cellphone Allegation

By Nirvi Shah

For James Parker, an alleged misunderstanding about a cellphone at school 2½ years ago morphed into months of missed school, failed classes, and fallout that he and his family are still trying to address.

When James was a freshman two years ago at O'Bannon High School in Greenville, Miss., a teacher thought she saw him with a cellphone in class—a violation of school rules. In reality, he was listening to a classmate's iPod during a break the teacher had given the students.

The next day, he was called into the assistant principal's office, where he was asked to produce the phone. Although his parents told school officials that he didn't own a phone, and the student who loaned the iPod that was at the heart of the issue vouched for sharing it with him, the school seemed to...