Upsetting Article

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2001
Upsetting Article
15
Sun, 05-25-2008 - 7:55am

I go this article emailed to me from a listserv and I am appalled!


St. Lucie teacher has students vote on whether 5-year-old can stay in class
By Colleen Wixon (Contact)
Originally published 01:50 p.m., May 23, 2008

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/23/st-lucie-teacher-has-class-vote-whether-5-year-old/

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 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 Asperger's, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex began the testing process in February for an official diagnosis under the suggestion of Morningside Principal Marsha Cully.

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.

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

"He was shaken up," she said. Barton said the nurse told her to talk with the child's teacher, 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."

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."

The child's mother filed a complaint with the school resource officer, who investigated the matter, said Port St. Lucie 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 is no longer investigating, but is documenting the complaint, she said.

Steele said the teacher confirmed the incident did occur.

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.


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Sun, 05-25-2008 - 11:05am

Tina,

OMG That is unbelievable! I hope that teacher is fired and her license revoked. She shoudl not be allowed within hearing distance of elementary school children.

I an incensed!

-Paula


visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-10-2004
Sun, 05-25-2008 - 1:32pm
OMG - if the school system doesn't do something about that, if I were the mother, I would sue their pants off....and include the teacher for personal liability.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-28-2007
Sun, 05-25-2008 - 3:07pm

Playing devil's advocate here. Despite the horrific indignity of what the idiot teacher did, I question how supported she was by the school administration dealing with an un dx aspie and how stressed she felt to take it to that level?

I know when Liam was in kindy his teacher was all but thrown to the wolves with relation to Liam, no supports, no IEP goals (despite our screaming for them). I do not for a millisecond condone her behaviour; it was cruel not just to the boy but also to his classmates. I would argue the administration of the school needs to be held just as accountable as the teacher; how could it have gotten to that point if they were supporting her in the classroom. I also wonder how old she was. It smacks of brand new fresh out of college immature behaviour.

Dee

Spring sig 2008






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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-2006
Sun, 05-25-2008 - 3:38pm
Sad.... Really really sad.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-25-2008 - 4:18pm

Hi everyone,

I was equally upset by this. It could be any of our children at any time. If you could take a few minutes to come to my blog I have email info for the principal...I would love it if you would join me and many other bloggers who are letting our voices be heard. So far no response of action has been made by the school. We want to make sure that they know people are watching all over the country.

http://memoirsofachaoticmommy.blogspot.com

The first three posts are dedicated to Alex Barton. Thank you for your advocacy on this.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-07-2008
Mon, 05-26-2008 - 8:38am

That is mind-numbingly awful.


But I wonder: just how much support did that teacher have to deal with an undiagnosed Aspie? Mine was a horror at 5 and he was very close to being expelled too, and whilst I am pretty sure none of his teachers would have done anything so horrible, there was a lot of similar stuff going on - misguided stuff about getting children to take control of tackling bullying (at 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for feck's sake, I wouldn't trust either my IQ-through-the-roof or my NT-Star-Wars-Fan with decisions like that at 5, if it were up to either of them at that age *I'd* be reported to child protection for Unreasonable Witholding of Chocolate and Unfair TV Priviledge Restrictions (as recognised by the Geneva Convention on International Child Abuse), the 2 year old would be evicted for 'smelling funny'....have none of these people read Lord of the Flies???!!!), class'votes' on appropriate sanctions for poor behaviour, ugh ugh ugh. I had to get myself on the board of governors to put a stop to it and make them show they had exhausted all the support networks, done all the evaluations and diagnoses etc that they could before they started that kind of cr*p.


I mean if I were that kid's mum I'd pull him out of that school so fast their heads would spin but in my situation that would be a *bad* thing for the school. That poor kid, that poor family - but also, that poor teacher. How out of ideas and rope must she have been??


Kirsty, mum to Euan (9, Asperger's) Rohan (5, NT) and Maeve (2, NT)


"My definition of housework is to sweep the room with a glance"


Follow my blog on http://mumsnet.com/blogs/kirsteinr/


 

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-16-2006
Mon, 05-26-2008 - 9:11am

What a vulgar display of being unprofessional.


I hope they seek HARSH reprocussions on this childs behalf. Sad very very sad to be let down by the "system"

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-19-2005
Mon, 05-26-2008 - 5:35pm

Hi Andie,


Count me in.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 05-26-2008 - 5:49pm

I also want to add that Alex is supposed to be on the CBS morning show tomorrow and that Barbara Curtis is hosting a card campaign at her blog for him. She can be found here:

http://www.mommylife.net/archives/2008/05/alex_is_special.html

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2007
Tue, 05-27-2008 - 2:25am

My son's teacher has admitted to not knowing what Asperger's is and also to never have worked with a child like him. It's been such a crappy year and he was up at the office too many times to count...but with that said never once did his teacher

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