Kindergarten teacher allows students to vote unpopular kid out of class.

[Dumpy Dooby]

Link, complete with sympathy-inducing, beauty pageant-like photo of the ousted boy.:

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.

Port St. Lucie Police no longer are investigating, but police officials are documenting the complaint, she said.

Steele said the teacher confirmed the incident took place.

Portillo could not be reached for comment Friday.

Steele said the boy had been sent to the principal's office because of disciplinary issues. When he returned, Portillo made him go to the front of the room as a form of punishment, she said.

Barton said her son is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex began the testing process in February at the suggestion of Morningside Principal Marcia Cully.

Children diagnosed with Asperger's often exhibit social isolation and eccentric behavior..

Alex has had disciplinary issues because of his disability, Barton said. After the family moved into the area and Alex and his sibling arrived at the school in January, Alex spent much of the time in the principal's office, she said.

He also had problems at his last school, but he did not have issues during his two years of preschool, Barton said.

School and district officials have met with Barton and her son to create an individual education plan to address his difficulties, she said. Portillo attended these meetings, Barton said.

Barton said after the vote, Portillo asked Alex how he felt.

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

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

Barton said when she came to pick up her son at the school Wednesday, he was leaving the nurse's office.

"He was shaken up," she said.

Barton said the nurse told her to talk with Portillo, who told her what happened.

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.

Thursday night, his mother heard him saying "I'm not special" over and over.

Barton said Alex is reliving the incident.

The other students 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."

St. Lucie School's spokeswoman Janice Karst said the district is investigating the incident, but could not make any further comment.

Vern Melvin, Department of Children and Families circuit administrator, confirmed the agency is investigating an allegation of abuse at Morningside but said he could not elaborate.

This is something I’d have loved to do to some of the rude, nasty kids in my class as a youngster; but right now, I’m just shocked that the teacher actually did it. What was she hoping to accomplish?

I guess it doesn't really matter because she works for the education system's monopoly owner so it's not like she (nor her employer) has any incentive to compete for students.


PS-
LOL Florida LOL.

[kinggovernor]

what exactly is a high performing form of autism?

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

what exactly is a high performing form of autism?

You know, where the parents want to blame something other than the boatloads of sugar they feed their kid for the way he acts.

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

You know, where the parents want to blame something other than the boatloads of sugar they feed their kid for the way he acts.

You are thinking of ADD. Autism is different and doesn't involve hyperactivity.

[Stylerod]

That's pretty fucked up. Cute kid, glad he isn't in my sons class.

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

what exactly is a high performing form of autism?

High performing usualoly means a mild case. The child can still function pretty well in a normal setting but they do exhibit some signs of the disorder. I'm suprised they didn't call it Aspergers' Syndrome.
Medical Conditions - Aspergers' Syndrome - High Performing Autism and Glyconutrients
My wife had a student that could tell you which teachers were there that day because he had memorized all of thier license plates. These kids can be really disruptive, and don't understand any sort of social cues or norms so it doesn't suprise me that the other kids didn't like him. It's pretty terrible that the Teacher did that to him though. Not knowing the entire story maybe it was something that built up for a long time without any action from the administration or parents and was disrupting the class. Maybe the teacher was trying to teach the kid a lesson that his bad behavior has consequences. I dunno. It seems like a bad approach to take though.

EDIT: Oh I see they did call it Aspergers.

[avsp]

The teacher's actions are reprehensible regardless of any diagnosis or her knowledge of it etc.

To formalise such bullying is 'damaging' to the other kids let alone what it may do to Alex Barton

Addressing his disruptive behaviour by pointing out to him that it makes him unpopular is one thing, but to formally act it out publicly is surely cruel

Presumably the teacher was extremely frustrated, which Aspersers kids will tend to induce, but so odd is their behaviour that over a fairly short time it becomes clear that they aren’t just being 'naughty'.

Typically by 8 or 9 such kids understand their condition quite well & are building 'coping strategies'

Still obviously there’s a growing tendency to 'medicalise' all sorts of non-standard behaviour & its not clear what exactly, if anything, is up with this young Alex but I think the teacher is in line for some severe public castigation, ..., do we have a :burnthewitch: smiley?

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

what exactly is a high performing form of autism?

Aspergers is often called "social autism." There are two major forms of autism, there's regular old "Rain Main" type autism where the individual is incapable of socializing like a normal person and there's aspergers where the same effects of autism take place in the brain, however, they still have the ability to socialize, somewhat. This allows them integrate a bit into society. They can often get through school, but they need a lot of specialized help. Eventually, with enough professional care in their childhood they may be able to hold a mediocre job and take care of themselves, but it's common for people with Aspergers to need consistent supervision.

Part of what could cause a person with Aspergers to misbehave is that they tend to not have the ability to empathize or understand the feelings of other people. They don't understand fully how their actions effect other people and they have difficulty recognizing their reactions. For example, they can do something that annoys somebody else and wouldn't pick up on the body language or other social factors that someone without Aspergers would. So they would keep doing it.

They also have trouble understanding social norms. They typically don't make friends their age. It is not uncommon for 10 year old with Aspergers to become best friends with a 5 year old or a senior citizen and would treat them like any other person without recognizing the age and cognitive differences. This behavior makes it difficult for them to make friends. People with Aspergers typically become social outcasts.

By the way, that article made me want to jump out of a window while reading it. "he said" "she said" "somebody said" etc. They need to stop using the word "said" at least once in every sentence. It was driving me insane.

[7960]

-the teacher sucks
-it wasn't "abuse" and the police shouldn't have gotten involved
-kids with aspergers can be a pain in the ass but that doesn't justify what she did
-my guess, that teacher will "be encouraged to find other employment" at the end of the year

[thewise1]

Originally Posted by 7960

-the teacher sucks
-it wasn't "abuse" and the police shouldn't have gotten involved
-kids with aspergers can be a pain in the ass but that doesn't justify what she did
-my guess, that teacher will "be encouraged to find other employment" at the end of the year

basically what he said

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

You know, where the parents want to blame something other than the boatloads of sugar they feed their kid for the way he acts.

Uh, no.

[motivez]

I was just about to make a thread about this.. this is really sad, and IMO the teacher should be fired and not allowed to continue for the rest of the year.

It's an outrageous thing to do to a little kid with a disability, if he was causing a problem in class and being disruptive, the teacher should have done the adult thing and sent him to a special needs class or talked to the principal and the parent

Allowing the rest of her class to humiliate and say degrading things to him and then vote him out of the class is absolutely horrible, and I wonder how much damage this will do to his ability to function with groups of people considering his disability..

[kinggovernor]

themoreyouknow.gif

[Ardentfrost]

Please... "high functioning" is another term for "there's nothing wrong with the kid, we're just making up some bullshit so that parents have something to blame their kid's problems on."

I'd bet money on a lot of kids diagnosed with "high functioning" disorders are just fine.

[IminWonderland]

I think sometimes Autism and even "delays" are looked to too fast for the answer to behaviour problems, it does not make what this teacher did right. What a bitch.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

Please... "high functioning" is another term for "there's nothing wrong with the kid, we're just making up some bullshit so that parents have something to blame their kid's problems on."

I'd bet money on a lot of kids diagnosed with "high functioning" disorders are just fine.

If he in fact does have Aspergers I don't see how you can say there's nothing wrong with him. It is a clinically diagnosed form of autism and absolutely hinders their social and cognitive development. There is absolutely no basis to say it's a made up disorder.

[northhunter]

I use to work afternoons when my kids were in elementary school. I often went to school funtions with them and was amazed how disruptive some of the students were and how much of it was tolerated due to their disability.
Having said that I still think it was and is the teachers or administrators responsiblity to handle disipline. You don't have the other students do it for you, they are in school for other things.

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by JaJae

If he in fact does have Aspergers I don't see how you can say there's nothing wrong with him. It is a clinically diagnosed form of autism and absolutely hinders their social and cognitive development. There is absolutely no basis to say it's a made up disorder.

I was going to say something like this but not as diplomatically.