A Wisconsin sheriff’s office recently responded to an unexpected 911 call. On November 15, a 10-year-old boy called 911. Fortunately, he was not dealing with a true emergency. Instead, he called 911 because he desperately needed help with his math homework.
The interaction between the 10-year-old and the sheriff’s office ended up being “a great teaching moment for all.”
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The 10-year-old explained that his family couldn't help him with his math homework.
When the child called 911, he explained that he needed help with some math problems because his family “wasn’t very good at math either,” the Shawano County Sheriff’s Office explained in a Facebook post. Dispatcher Kim Krause answered the call and explained that 911 is only for emergencies. Still, she was not busy at the time, so she offered to help the child, Good Morning America reported.
The 911 dispatcher couldn't help with the math problems.
The fact that the child and his family struggled with the math problem made sense: The dispatcher couldn’t help him with the “long problem with decimals” either, so she identified a deputy who was in the area at the time, according to Good Morning America.
Deputy Sheriff Chase Mason was close by. Of course, responding to calls about homework is not typical for the sheriff’s office, but Mason happened to be available and decided to help with the nonemergency situation, the news outlet reported.
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The deputy is also 'not overly proficient when it comes to math.'
Mason stopped by the child’s home and tried to help him with his math homework even though he is “also not overly proficient when it comes to math.” Together, the child and Mason were able to solve the math problems the boy had been struggling with.
It was a teachable moment.
In addition to helping the child with his homework, Mason had the opportunity to teach the child another important lesson. The Shawano County Sheriff’s Office explained that it’s available to help people in the community, but the emergency line isn’t for homework help.
“Our young caller was provided a business card and was told we are always here to help, except next time he should probably use the non-emergency line if it’s not a life-threatening situation,” the sheriff’s office shared in its Facebook post.
The sheriff's office thanked Mason for responding.
Though it was an “an unusual 911 call” and not an emergency, Mason still stepped up to help. Speaking to Good Morning America, Shawano County Sheriff George Lenzner praised Mason and other deputies who sometimes help out during situations like this one. “Thank you, Deputy Mason, for taking time out of your day to be a friend to this young man!” the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook.
