Teacher let classmates vote autistic kid out of class

[Ferd Berfle]

No CHild Left Behind? Floridians are really twisted.

Mom says teacher let classmates vote autistic son out of class

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/treasurecoast/sfl-flpkindergartner0525pnmay25,0,2574622.story

PORT ST. LUCIE - Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son's kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.

After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.

By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex -- who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism -- out of the class.

Melissa Barton filed a complaint with Morningside's school resource officer, who investigated the matter, Port St. Lucie Department spokeswoman Michelle Steele said. But the state attorney's office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed, Steele said.

[saltpoint]

1. Can't speak to the legal aspects of "meeting the criteria for emotional

child abuse," but from the report, it certainly meets the criteria for shit teaching.

[rucky]

2. Time to vote the teacher out of class. n/t

[book_worm]

3. Some teachers have no right in their position.

[Deja Q]

14. My 3rd grade teacher, apart from other things, taught us we had 52 states...

Dipshits posing as teachers existed long before 2008, I regret to say, though obviously we had good teachers at one point because our society was making leaps and bounds... I think the we turned the corner during the 1970s.

[goddess40]

4. Prime example of school sanctioned bullying

If Wendy Portillo isn't fired then this school district gives a huge green light to bullying

Both of my children have Autism Spectrum disorders and my educated guess is this child's original punishment was for something related to his disorder and was therefore out of line. Those with Asperger's have poor to non-existent social skills and for this sorry excuse for a teacher to do this is beyond disgusting.

The fact that the state attorney says there is no case just goes to prove the fact that children have few rights and really don't matter.

With all we now know about school shootings and their link to bullying you'd think schools would be adverse to teachers leading the way on bullying.

[saltpoint]

5. Are there teachers and administrators in that school who helped forge

this kids' IEP?

Does the kid have a counselor of some sort he sees in connection with his possible diagnosis?

And how do the other parents feel about this sort of kangaroo court in their kids' classroom?

[Democrat 4 Ever]

8. Well, so much for teaching children compassion, empathy or patience, evidently

those nasty life skills aren't needed in kindergarten.:banghead:

That teacher was looking for an out to make her job easier. She should be fired, her teaching certificate pulled and required to do community service for at least 100 hours. Picking up trash along the highway seems to me more in line with her skills set.

Edit for typos - they didn't take a holiday!

[saltpoint]

9. I'm looking on this story from a remove, but from the evidence in the

report, your proposal sounds pretty good to me.

Only let's make it 1000 hours of community service, minimum.

If the report is accurate, I'm offended for just about everyone involved.

[LWolf]

6. Dupe.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3340436

[knitter4democracy]

7. Excuse me?! Write her up!!

Has that woman never heard of PL-94-142/IDEA?! A student in the process of diagnosis and getting an IEP cannot be treated like that at all! That mom needs to lawyer up, 'cause she's in for a long, hard road with that school system.

Holy crap, it never would've occured to me to vote out a student. Not ever. My kids were my kids.

[tbyg52]

11. *No* child should be treated like that

and I include the ones she encouraged to be little jerks. *All* the children in that class were emotionally abused.

[knitter4democracy]

17. I agree.

My kindergartener would be traumatized by something like that happening in his class. His is a large class with several special needs students, and yet he's made friends with almost everyone and is learning how to ignore outbursts and whatever as well as how to read better and math and the usual curriculum.

Frankly, I'm horrified.

[lpbk2713]

10. Wendy was teaching a lesson in how rethuglicans do things.

:sarcasm:
:eyes:


"He's not like the rest of us, so let's get rid of him."

OxyRush would be proud of her.

[pacalo]

12. I'd love to know what the klunkheads at the state attorney's office define as emotional child abuse.

An adult in an authoritative position directing a roomful of his peers to take a vote on whether or not they want him in a class is certainly an event that would leave scars on this child's life. How alone & bullied he must have felt!

[Deja Q]

13. We need more information:

1. Why use a "weakest link" or "lord of the flies" solution to "punish" the kid? It gives the others a false sense of entitlement, amongst other things.
2. Was the kid reacting to being picked on, or did he instigate the problems? There is a difference and it's VERY important to know the truth.
3. There are valid forms of discipline. If he needed it, he should get it.
4. Every fringe issue would be avoided if there were certain class standards, right down to school uniforms. A lot of this SHIT would be preemptively dealt with.

You cynics and "children have rights too" can bugger off, we need to resolve the core problems - a lot will stem from this incident, in ways most people can't think of. While I may not be correct in my assertion, at least I'm looking at other possible causes (see point #2 if the kid was reacting to being picked on).

[Democrat 4 Ever]

15. What are you smoking? This teacher allowed kindergarten students

to VOTE A CHILD OUT OF CLASS. A five or six-year old child. It doesn't matter what the kid did, how he acted, period. You don't allow children to treat other children like that. That little boy was humiliated, ostracized and shunned. Hopefully his parents will find a teacher and a school with more compassion and understand but the rest of the students in that class learned it was okay to be thoughtless, shameful and mean - all with a teacher's sanctions and encouragement. IF this story is correct thana this teacher needs to be fired, the principal needs to go, the school board needs to be voted out. I don't care how disruptive a child is you don't handle the problem by using children as you club.

[Echo In Light]

23. Please don't attribute HypnoToad's pov to anything he/she is smoking

:hi: ...I mean, pot doesn't create such views. Just sayin'.

[NightWatcher]

16. democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding on what's for dinner

the teacher should be fired. School is a right not a democracy

[saltpoint]

18. NightWatcher, that quotation -- the wolves and the sheep & dinner --

is that yours?

It's extremely powerful.

[Norrin Radd]

19. Benjamin Franklin

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

[saltpoint]

20. Thank you, Progs Rock. Much appreciated.

:hi: :dem:

[Phillycat]

21. Why is it always Florida...

[Rosemary2205]

22. is it because we don't pay her enough???

I keep being told schools suck because the teachers don't make enough money. I'm thinking the problem is a system that would keep a teacher like this.

[rucky]

24. We're not attracting the people who would make the best teachers

because of the f-ed up system and the pay turn people off who would otherwise be good teachers.

[NuttyFluffers]

25. i think "weakest link," "survivor" style games set up unhealthy narratives...

and these thoughts end up leaking into our everyday lives in unconscious ways as if they are OK.

no overt physical violence occurs, but a casual heartlessness and emotional violence occurs. and since there is no official law against being offended (nor there should be), we are left with the personal and societal responsibility to behave in a thoughtful and loving manner to others. with these sort of 'eliminating based' reality show games, we become casually inured thinking this sort of behavior is acceptable, natural, and encouraged. without thinking people could casually implement these cruel notions of social organization whereas they would be wholly aware and opposed to applying any of the artificial violence portrayed in the media.

compassion and acceptance is very much a learned and nurtured trait; the american environment seemingly does its damnedest to stamp it out. and yet people wonder why our society seems to be going to hell in a hand basket. without love and the artificial notion of implied obligation there is very little holding up the fabric of society.

welcome to the cult of individualism. indeed some good things can be taken too far.