From St. Lucie teacher has students vote on whether 5-year-old can stay in class (TCPalm.com, 5/23/08):

"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 (pictured), his Morningside Elementary teacher said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.

"By a 14 to 2 margin, the class voted him out of the class.

"Barton said her son is in the process of being diagnosed with Aspberger's, a type of high-functioning autism...

"Alex has had disciplinary issues because of his disabilities, Barton said. The school and district has met with Barton and her son to create an individual education plan, she said. His teacher, Wendy Portillo, has attended these meetings, she said...

"'He was incredibly upset,' Barton said. 'The only friend he has ever made in his life was forced to do this.'"

In my recent blog post on the subject, Teacher Forces 'the Only Friend the Five-Year-Old Boy Has Ever Made' to Denounce Him Publicly, I wrote:

"As a former teacher, I certainly know the challenges that teachers often face, and I also realize how incidents which seem innocent and humorous in the classroom can sound ominous or harmful when relayed second or third or fourth hand to administrators or parents. That being said, if this news article is accurate, there's no defense of what Wendy Portillo did in humiliating this little boy...

"Sometimes a child will act up or act very strangely in class and the teacher may get in trouble later for disciplining the child or mishandling the situation because the child, unbeknownst to the teacher, had special needs or special issues.  In this case, however, Wendy Portillo knew all about the special problems this boy had-- she had attended meetings where the boy's disability was discussed and plans were made on how to help him...

"It is true that teachers are human like anybody else and can lose their temper in a difficult situation like anybody else.  However, what Wendy Portillo did went far, far beyond losing her temper. This was hardly a short, quickly regretted outburst, but instead prolonged psychological abuse of the little boy."

Apparently teacher, Wendy Portillo, has now been reassigned. According to St. Lucie teacher reassigned after student 'voted out' of class (TCPalm.com, 5/27/08):

"Morningside Elementary kindergarten teacher Wendy Portillo has been reassigned until further action may be determined, according to St. Lucie County School District spokeswoman Janice Karst...Portillo was reassigned out of the classroom at the district offices on Friday, as soon as Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon heard about the incident, Karst said. She said it could be up to two weeks before the district's investigation on the matter is concluded.

"Portillo has been a St. Lucie County teacher for 12 years, and at Morningside Elementary for nine, Karst said."

The mother thinks Portillo should be fired, saying, "She has no business being near children at all" and that Portillo's reassignment is "a slap in the face."

MSNBC has a video on the case--Autistic Boy Voted out of Class. It'll be interesting to see how the case is resolved, and also to see if and how the teachers' union gets involved.

Thanks to Ana, a reader, for sending the new story.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Boys/Boy Crisis in Education/Schools. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.