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Teacher Forces 'the Only Friend the Five-Year-Old Boy Has Ever Made' to Denounce him Publicly
GlennSacks.com ^ | 5/27/08 | Glenn Sacks

Posted on 05/27/2008 9:56:32 AM PDT by 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.]


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: autism; education; melissabarton; publiceducation; publicschools; schools; wendyportillo
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To: PercivalWalks

I’m a teacher, and I cannot imagine a scenario where what the teacher did was right. I’m sure the little boy is difficult to have in class, and I suspect that not enough is done, as he probably not only drives the teacher nuts, but clearly his classmates as well. That being said, it’s not HIS FAULT. I would QUIT before I would do something like that to any child, no matter how annoying.

Sadly, there are people teaching who should not be. I don’t know if this child was best served in that particular environment, but if most of his classmates were willing to vote him out of the class, I suspect he would be better served in a different environment, as his educational needs are probably not being met, and he’s most likely interfering with the education of the other students.

susie


21 posted on 05/27/2008 10:19:10 AM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: YourAdHere

I agree, that is probably the best place for him. He probably needs a much more class size and one on one than is possible in a public school.


22 posted on 05/27/2008 10:19:58 AM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: PercivalWalks

Basically the same thing happened to my baby on a different angle. She is ADHD and once the kids found out she was targeted for bullying and every time she would attempt to tell teachers about it she was chastised based on her behavior and either dismissed, told to suck it up, or punished for “tattling”.

My psychologist wife went up and talked to the teachers and it got a little better. I went with a bad attitude and my laywer’s business card and visited the principal and it got a lot better along with an apology from one teacher to my child. We are attempting to make adjustments to home school her next year.


23 posted on 05/27/2008 10:20:58 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: PercivalWalks

I’m not a teacher, nor a parent, but I can’t imagine a more horrible non-physical thing to do to a kid. This was a very cruel thing to do and as much as we’d like to “get over” all the cruddy things that are bound to happen to all of us, this could create some permanent damage. Very cruel, very thoughtless.


24 posted on 05/27/2008 10:21:37 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder ()OK. We're still working on your ones.)
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To: Owl_Eagle
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.

The ADA and the courts.

susie

25 posted on 05/27/2008 10:21:46 AM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: subterfuge

We are not all liberals.
susie


26 posted on 05/27/2008 10:22:56 AM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: Kirkwood

Or spends too much time watching “The Weakest Link”.


27 posted on 05/27/2008 10:23:17 AM PDT by knittnmom (...surrounded by reality!)
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To: brytlea

Ain’t that the truth!

Having a disruptive kid in class can deprive all of them the education they are there for.


28 posted on 05/27/2008 10:24:49 AM PDT by passionfruit (When illegals become legal, even they won't do work American's won't do)
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To: PercivalWalks

I read the first article on this. I’m going to reserve judgement until the whole story is out. Anyone who reads a fraction of the articles out there knows never to fully trust the parents’ account of the incident.


29 posted on 05/27/2008 10:25:31 AM PDT by Hoodlum91 (I support global warming.)
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To: Hoodlum91

I certainly do hope there is more to this story, and yeah, angry parents are not always the best place to get the full story.

susie


30 posted on 05/27/2008 10:27:58 AM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: Owl_Eagle

The point isn’t if he should have been allowed in the class, he was there and it was the teachers job to protect him as she would any of her other students. There should have been, and probably were, other options besides humiliating him and forcing his classmates to humiliate him too. That was beyond cruel.


31 posted on 05/27/2008 10:29:25 AM PDT by DancingMyRainbow
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To: PercivalWalks

Since when do 5-year olds get to vote on whether a classmate can stay in class, when even parents don’t get to make that kind of decision about class enrollment?

What exactly was the purpose of this excercise, other than pure psychological abuse?

Forget firing. The system doesn’t have that kind of recourse built into it for parents. Taking her on an instructional “field trip” where she can learn about which bone is connected to which bone would be more appropriate, if you know what I mean.


32 posted on 05/27/2008 10:30:38 AM PDT by Motherhood IS a career
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To: passionfruit

“Having a disruptive kid in class can deprive all of them the education they are there for.”

Just a different way of “leveling the playing field.” Nobody said it would be level on the high side.


33 posted on 05/27/2008 10:32:46 AM PDT by PLMerite ("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
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To: mbynack
I totally agree with you that placing "special ed" students in "regular" classes is a bad idea. But apparently, they do that now. Someone came up with this brilliant idea, and they actually claim, believe it or not, that this helps both the "special" child and the normal kids learn better. I've heard this with my own ears at one of our local school board meetings.
34 posted on 05/27/2008 10:39:19 AM PDT by Motherhood IS a career
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To: PercivalWalks

You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year
It’s got to be drummed in
Your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught...

(Rodgers & Hammerstein)


35 posted on 05/27/2008 10:42:06 AM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ( Uh...fight SCD. Schwa Collapse Disorder is spreading. Save the a word. Just say uh.)
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To: PercivalWalks
I have a daughter with Asperger’s syndrome, and I can testify to the pain and humiliation that it causes the sufferer. And the distress it causes the adults that have to deal with it.

The thing about it is, the victims do not pick up on the social clues that others do. They have to think their way through every humiliating experience to try to figure out what they did wrong. And often they never do figure it out. An Asperger’s kid is working twice as hard as an ordinary kid in school, because he is coping with both the school curriculum demands and trying to cope intellectually with the social demands that he cannot understand.

But regardless of the difficulties the teacher faced, to put this kind of problem up to a bunch of children is unconsciencenable. This teacher should be drummed out of the profession and never allowed to teach again.

36 posted on 05/27/2008 10:46:08 AM PDT by chesley (Where's the omelet? -- Orwell)
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To: Owl_Eagle
"I'd be furious that I was paying full tuition but not being afforded them a reasonable level of attention."

This has been going on for years, thanks to fedgov. They dictated that a disabled child should have the same teaching etc. as regular children, and that's where it started.

Carolyn

37 posted on 05/27/2008 10:46:31 AM PDT by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: PercivalWalks

This infuriates me! My child was once thought to Aspberger’s, and now we know she is high functioning with an IQ of 74. No one should be humiliated. All the years of counselling this child Alex might have had were undone with the teacher’s one incompetent and severely damaging action.

The teacher should be fired for her actions.


38 posted on 05/27/2008 10:49:57 AM PDT by hoe_cake
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To: PercivalWalks

Behold the so-called “tolerance” of the left. Replace teacher with “fuhrer”, replace classroom with “fatherland”, replace the 14 children with “master race” and replace the child with “Jew” or “Gypsie” or “Catholic priest” or any other “undesirable”. Now replace “voted out of the class” with “final solution”. What this teacher did is sad and disgusting. What the other 14 children are learning from it is fightening.


39 posted on 05/27/2008 10:51:33 AM PDT by bobjam
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To: PercivalWalks

And hooray for those two fellow students who didn’t vote Alex out of the class.


40 posted on 05/27/2008 10:51:46 AM PDT by hoe_cake
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