Teacher Forces 'the Only Friend the Five-Year-Old Boy Has Ever Made' to Denounce him Publicly

GlennSacks.com ^ | 5/27/08 | Glenn Sacks

[PercivalWalks]

"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 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.

"Barton said after the vote, Alex's teacher asked him how he felt.

"He said, 'I feel sad,' she said.

"Alex left the classroom and spent the rest of the day in the nurse's office, she said...

"Alex hasn't been back to school since then, and Barton said he won't be returning. He starts screaming when she brings him with her to drop off his sibling at school.

"Barton said Alex is reliving the incident.

"They said he was 'disgusting' and 'annoying,' Barton said.

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

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 (pictured).

A few thoughts:

1) 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.

2) 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.

3) It is quite true that one disruptive student, or out-of-control student, or special needs student who is unable to control himself, can disrupt an entire classroom. While I make no excuses whatsoever for what Wendy Portillo reportedly did, it is also possible that she was supposed to receive more support services from the school and did not receive them.

For example, perhaps the boy was supposed to go to a specialist a couple hours a day for help. This is good for the boy, obviously, and also relieves some of the pressure on the teacher. It is not uncommon for schools to arrange this type of special services and then for the special services to be intermittent, or canceled due to funding cuts or personnel changes.

I experienced this once during the year I taught fourth grade. I had a boy in my class -- a very nice, good natured boy who I liked -- who did not know how to read. How he was in the fourth grade and why he was there when he did not know how to read is a good question.

Anyway, he received special services -- for an hour or two a day he would be taken out of my classroom and would go to a specialist who would help him learn how to read. It was a good arrangement -- the boy began improving, and I had at least a couple hours a day where I did not have to pacify a boy who was largely clueless as to what was going on in class because he could not read.

After about a month or six weeks of this, you can guess what happened -- the reading class was eliminated, perhaps due to budget cuts, and the boy was dumped back in my class, making things more difficult for everyone involved--the boy, the other students, and myself. It is possible that something like this occurred with Wendy Portillo.

The full article is St. Lucie teacher has students vote on whether 5-year-old can stay in class (TCPalm.com, 5/23/08)--thanks to Chris. a reader, for sending it.

Glenn Sacks, www.GlennSacks.com

[Note: If you or someone you love is faced with a divorce or needs help with child custody, child support, false accusations, Parental Alienation, or other family law or criminal law matters, ask Glenn for help by clicking here.]

[Blood of Tyrants]

Poor kid.

[Niuhuru]

Of all the low things to do....

[wastedyears]

I’d fire the teacher and make it so they’re never in education again.

[YourAdHere]

He’d do better being homeschooled.

[OpusatFR]

Where did this disgusting piece of tripe learn to do a “One Minute Hate” so perfectly?

This is actually frighteningly close to Orwell.

Fire her. Take her license. This woman is so completely abusive she has no business ever being around children.

[Always Independent]

If this had been done to my son I would probably be going to jail.

[Kirkwood]

Teacher shouldn’t be allowed to ever be near children again. She is either very mentally disturbed or just plain evil.

[End Times Sentinel]

There's no defending what the teacher did in this situation, it's cruel and sadistic.

That being said, why was a child who has an obviously serious disruptive behavior disorder mixed in with kids that don't have a learning disability.
I know if that were the situation in my children's class, I'd be furious that I was paying full tuition but not being afforded them a reasonable level of attention.

While the teacher deserves to have her teacher's license permanently revoked, the parents are not without serious blame for their role in destroying a year's worth of education for the other 16 children in the class. This is negligence that almost approaches criminal.

[TexasCajun]

I don't know in today's PC world that Special Education Classes even exist in public skewls any longer?

[TexasRepublic]

That sounds like the old Soviet style of education. Spurn the outcast, little comrades!

[contemplator]

I’d fire the teacher and make it so they’re never in education again.

Maybe the principal can hold a meeting with all of the other teachers in the school and vote whether or not she should be allowed to stay.

[subterfuge]

If this had been done to my son I would probably be going to jail.

Same here. Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Teachers are a protected class of liberals.

[chrisser]

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

Kindergarteners voting on their peers? Sorta reminds me of the Democrat Party primary.

[twntaipan]

You know, if this were the kids themselves talking some kind of action against the little tyke it might be understandable.

But this is an adult LEADING the kids to take action, thus making it utterly reprehensible.

[Dixie Yooper]

This is one of the most shameful things I have ever heard of a teacher doing. On the other hand, a child with Aspberger’s can go from being a normal child to an absolute menace in a matter of seconds, and once they go off the deep end, only the kids mother or father can get them settled back down. I expect the teacher was a ropes end with the kid, the parents and the administration and couldn't think of anything else to do. She should have keep thinking. This was a horrible decision.

[subterfuge]

the parents are not without serious blame for their role in destroying a year's worth of education for the other 16 children in the class.

Bullsh!t. The parents do EXACTLY what our public school "servants" tell them to do--or else. Go outside those guidelines and CPS will come a callin'. You're on thin ice if you're going to blame the parents for a teacher mentally abusing a FIVE YEAR OLD in this way. Please tell us how this teacher's abuse translates into "criminal negligence" by the parents?

[DieHard the Hunter]

I am keenly aware that only one side of this story (previously carried on FR on a different thread) has been told. It is an emotive story and is written in such a way as to provoke an outraged reaction.

What should the teacher have done, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight? And what events led up to this incident? What is the school’s policy on mainstreaming kids, and was it being followed?

We aren’t told this.

[mbynack]

First and foremost, I don’t agree with what the teacher did. However, many of the kids that are being “mainstreamed” in the school system are a huge distraction for the teachers and other students in the classes. One of the cases that I am aware of involved a girl in Pensacola, Florida who screamed and disrupted the whole class every day. If they passed around something for show and tell and she didn’t get it first she would throw a violent tantrum. She frequently spent whole class periods screaming and throwing books and it prevented the other students from learning anything. The newspapers in Pensacola wrote a very one-sided story about her being expelled from class and failed to mention the fact that she had assaulted the teacher and several of the students.

[AppyPappy]

“He’d do better being homeschooled.”

Exactly. Imagine having a fire alarm that constantly sounds off in class. It is very hard for kids to learn in that environment.

But a vote on kicking him out was sick.