My heart goes out to this little boy. I am hoping that this teacher looses her credentials over this! St. Lucie teacher reassigned after student 'voted out' of clas
By Colleen Wixon (Contact)
Originally published 10:12 a.m., May 27, 2008
Updated 01:40 p.m., May 27, 2008
Wendy Portillo
Photo provided by the family
Alex Barton
Port ST. LUCIE — 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.
Last week, Portillo held a vote in her classroom in which kindergarten students "voted out" 5-year-old Alex Barton, who was in the process of being tested for Asperger's Disorder, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex's mother, Melissa Barton, said the vote was taken after classmates were allowed to tell Alex what they didn't like about him.
The class voted Alex out of the room, by a 14 to 2 margin.
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.
Barton said Tuesday morning that Alex had officially been diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. He is not in school, but misses the one friend he made in the classroom, she said.
"He's a little better today," she said. "He's just being Alex."
Barton said she thinks Portillo should be fired.
"She has no business being near children at all," she said.
As to the news of Portillo being reassigned, Barton responded, "That's just a slap in the face."
This is just SO wrong on SO
This is just SO wrong on SO many different levels. I wonder what her lesson plan was? - How to abuse the democratic system to gang up on those with social differences. She deserves to at least lose her teaching accreditation.
What an adorable little boy.
What an adorable little boy. I don't understand how a teacher could think she could get away with "voting out" a student as though her classroom is a reality TV show. I think the parents of the other students in the class should be outraged as well. What kind of example is this teacher setting for these kids? Did this teacher plan to vote everyone else out of her class one by one and then vote herself a pay raise? I don't think teachers get to decide who they teach, so I think this teacher must be in need of a psychological evaluation.
Maybe the teacher just went off of the deep end, that happens sometimes. At my elementary school, one of the teachers decided she would go home in the middle of the day to take a nap. So she just locked all of the kids inside her classroom and went home. An extreme error in judgement. Of course, she was let go shortly thereafter.
At one point in my life, I considered becoming a teacher. I was doing field experience for a fifth grade teacher who had 18 years of experience and had been a school principal back east. While I was helping out in his classroom, he dumped a little girl's desk out in front of the rest of the students and called the girl a messy pig. The girl burst into tears and said she wanted to kill herself. When I told the vice principal what happened she said, "kids say things." No action was taken.
Lots of horrible things go on everyday in schools that we will never know about.
I am SOOOOO glad my son isnt
I am SOOOOO glad my son isnt in school. Honey I'm nice
but if anybody pulled that kinda s*** on my son they
would have to answer to me.
This woman deserves to face
This woman deserves to face emotional abuse/trauma charges. And discrimination as well. Shouldn't the Disability Act protect him against things like this?