Teacher Who Let Students Kick Autistic Kid Out Of Class Suspended

A St. Lucie County teacher who let her kindergarteners decide whether an autistic child could remain in class has been suspended.
The county school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to suspend Morningside Elementary School teacher Wendy Portillo without pay for one year.
The incident arose one day in May, when a 5-year-old student in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome was referred twice to the principal for discipline problems.
more, and video at link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,454831,00.html

:furious:

This woman should be fired. She should NOT be an educator, teaching young, impressionable minds that it is OK to shun someone because they are different.
The article says parents of Autistic children have signed a petition...what about that parents of kids without Autism that may end up in this hateful woman's classroom?! As many parents as there are students in this school should step up and do the right thing!
This makes me sick. Poor little boy.

Good. Kick her butt out.

God that poor kid. I agree this woman needs to find a new profession. I wouldn't want her anywhere near my kid. I don't even want her anywhere near ME.

Here's the original thread... I can't believe it took them this long to get rid of this so-called teacher!

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65319

Thank God!! Now she needs her liceance revoked for EVER

That woman needs to be fired and banned from ever teaching again!

If I remember right the school was making some whiny excuse and hiding behind the lack of diagnosis of a disability even though it was in progress. Bringing the whole class in on it and being so cruel to the little boy was horrible. Maybe the teacher will go into some other profession in the next year.

Thank God she is gone. I hope she is never allowed to teach again.

The poor kid. This kind of stuff really gets to me!! It took too long to kick her azz out!!

Always
Goz

txsvicki said:

If I remember right the school was making some whiny excuse and hiding behind the lack of diagnosis of a disability even though it was in progress. Bringing the whole class in on it and being so cruel to the little boy was horrible. Maybe the teacher will go into some other profession in the next year.

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Regardless if he had a diagnoisis or not, a teacher should never encourage children to not be accepting of those different. Schools drive me crazy, they always protect the teachers. What about the children? I had a police officer tell me once that teahers are the most protected citizens in the U.S.

This is so sick! How can such a person be out there teaching children? ITA, she should be fined, fired and prohibited from teaching or even being around children for the rest of her life. What a b*tch!

There are two tragedies here.

One, that this child was treated this way, for a condition he was born with and cannot help. He only knows he has been rejected by his whole class. How very, very sad.

The other tragedy is that this teacher was not given the support, education, and support to deal with an autistic child in her classroom. The mantra today is "inclusion" (a step forward from mainstreaming) but it cannot be done without intensive support and education for the teacher. It can be intensely frustrating for other children to be next to an autistic child--if you are ADD and easily distracted, or G/T and frustrated by constant interruptions or distractions--those children deserve to be educated appropriately as well as the child with autism. It can be very rewarding and positive and successful for all children to be together in the classroom. It can also be incredibly frustrating and hugely unfair to children who are expected to deal with things that adults could not tolerate all day in their own jobs.

The school, bottom line, should have done a better job in every way before this situation reached this kind of frustration level.

I'm not defending the teacher's actions here, because clearly they were wrong and not justifiable. However, out of ignorance, the teacher might well (particularly a young teacher) have thought that getting the student who was autistic to understand how his behavior impacted others would motivate him to change. It's wrong, but if you haven't been clearly educated as to what an autistic child can do, or you have a bit of the "they can control it if they want to" mentality--then you find yourself doing things out of frustration that in hindsight, are indefensible.

mostlylurking said:

Good. Kick her butt out.

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AMEN.............yikes, I can not believe this. Teachers should be professional...........this one was sure a loser!

xxxxxxxxxod
mama:blowkiss::blowkiss: