Teacher who ask class to vote on autistic student wants her suspension reversed
February 2nd, 2009 by Cara FitzpatrickA teacher who asked her students to vote a boy out of his kindergarten class was, but for that single lapse in judgment, one of “St. Lucie County’s premier educational giants,” a lawyer said today at her appeal.
Wendy Portillo, a 12-year teaching veteran, meant no harm and regrets her actions, said her lawyer, David Walker of Stuart.
Portillo is appealing the recommendation of Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon that she be suspended without pay for a year, returned to an annual contract and prohibited from teaching elementary-age students in St. Lucie County.
Melissa Barton, shown with her son Alex, filed a complaint seeking compensation from the St. Lucie school district.
Portillo, who didn’t testify today, dabbed at her eyes with tissues while her lawyer talked about Lannon’s recommendation.
“For Wendy Portillo, what’s done and said (here) will determine whether she can do what she loves and was born to do,” Walker said.
If she wins with the state Division of Administrative Hearings, Portillo will earn back pay from the school district. The hearing at Fort Pierce City Hall is expected to last several days.
Portillo set off a firestorm of controversy last May after she instructed her students at Morningside Elementary in Port St. Lucie to vote on whether a then 5-year-old boy, Alex Barton, could remain in class after he had misbehaved. The class voted 14-2 for him to leave.
Alex was later diagnosed with Asberger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. His mother, Melissa Barton, said he was under evaluation when the incident occurred.
The school district received hundreds of email and phone calls condemning Portillo’s actions, and Melissa Barton removed her son from school. Alex now is being taught at home by a retired teacher.
Barton, who is pursuing a lawsuit against the school district, said she still wanted to see Portillo fired and prohibited from teaching.
But Walker said Lannon’s punishment was too severe, calling Portillo a “model of educational excellence.”
Elizabeth Coke, a lawyer representing the school district, however, said the incident must be viewed in light of the fact that kindergarten is often a child’s first experience with school and that Portillo’s actions affected not only Alex, but also his classmates.
“What did Mrs. Portillo teach those young impressionable minds that day,” she said.
Tags: alex barton, Asberger's syndrome, autistic, David Walker, Division of Administrative Hearings, Elizabeth Coke, Melissa Barton, Michael Lannon, Morningside Elementary, students, Wendy Portillo
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February 2nd, 2009 at 10:26 am
I think this poor teacher has already gotten a raw deal. She had no support from the administration or from the parent in dealing with a very unruly child. The aim of the classroom vote was to educate the child on what his behavior was doing to the other 16 children in his class whose learning was stunted in order to accomodate him. Even though I am with others in encouraging mainstreaming of special needs children, it cannot be at the expense of the progress of the great majority of children who do not have special needs. Many said that she needed training, she is a monster, et al. but none has answered this simple question.
I’ve asked this before–what do you do with a child when the principal has sent the child back to your classroom from the office twice in the same day, the parent has not been called to take her disruptive child home and the child still exhibits the class disrupting behavior?
Out of all the options that she knew (because there is no special training the school board offers for undiagnosed disorders), I think trying to get the child to realize the effect of his behavior on other students by walking him in front of the class is pretty good. It’s obvious no one else (mother, father, doctor, principal) had an answer for behavior control and I imagine sending the kid home wasn’t an option, so our solution is to kill the messenger teacher who tried to regain control? She was not the only one we should blame here. The principal would not call the mother to take her unruly child from shcool until the child could be taught proper behavior that would allow him to be mainstreamed into a classroom setting with other normal students.
I implore people to think about what we mean when we say “We support education”. Because to support education is to support your teachers and in this instance this teacher got thrown under the bus to support a cowardly principal and and even more cowardly administration.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:41 am
“The greater the ignornace the greater the dogmatism.”
Sir William Osler (1849 - 1919)
Wendy Portillo should be grateful she only recieved a year suspension.
It’s obvious she’s too ignorant to understand that.
She needs to go, we don’t want or need so called “teachers” like her teaching our children.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:48 am
I have a friend who is a teacher and I know how hard it is for them. A student can curse the teacher out with the foulest language and give her the finger and the teacher can’t do a darn thing about it. This incident reeks of politics of the worst sort. But then perhaps this is the best thing that could happen to this teacher. She will probably find a much better job else where with far greater pay. Dairy Queen, Home Depot … it’s all better than teaching in today’s “student-run amok” public school system.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:49 am
R.J., if I were a teacher I would hate to have your brat in my class.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 am
I am appauled that there are individuals who are siding with this “teacher” on this issue. I’m not a teacher but I am a parent first. As an adult you do not EVER place a child in a position where they are made to feel of less worth or importance than any other child. How, as an adult, do you take a 5 year old child, REGARDLESS OF HIS BEHAVIOR HE’S A FRICKING 5 YEAR OLD, and put him in front of the class where other children are allowed to state what they DON’T like about him. I am still outraged at this incident. Special needs children should be treated with the same respect as ANY child in the school system. If she was truly that concerned with the child’s behavior she should have called a meeting with the principal, assistant principal, SES coordinator and the child’s parent to discuss alternate means of dealing with a special needs child. A REAL “teacher” would’ve taught her students that it’s not ok to single out or be mean to any child.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:22 am
Regardless of his age, he needs to be in a special school for kids with autism, or home schooled. Sorry to say, but why punish other normal kids that are trying to learn. He is unfortunate to have this problem, however don’t make his problem everyone else’s problem. Put the kid with other kids that have special needs. It’s sad this poor teacher has had to be punished for trying to handle the situation that she was stuck with. Shame on his mother for putting the child in regular school and expecting everything to be all right. Maybe the mother needs some special needs herself since she doesn’t know what’s best for her child. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:37 am
My mother has been a teacher for 22 years and there is no way in the world that she would even imagine doing something like this to a CHILD! She was wrong for even doing such a thing. She didn’t even think about how this is going to affect this LITTLE boy. I wonder how many other teachers do we have in our school system like her. Just because you have a bachelor’s degree in something child related doesn’t mean that you should be a teacher. She needs to go file some papers. I thank God for the elementary school teachers that I had. Now the teachers should vote her out. You are the weakest link. Good Bye!
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Bid Daddy shut up until you have been in the classroom for 40 years and have an autistic child of your own. Thank you.
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
After reading Mark’s comments,”special school,needs,normal kids,” its obvious you have issues with anyone that isn’t, “normal” like you. You sound like the “superior race” who justified the murder of millions of people during WW II because they were “different”.
I wonder if you’re also a member of the “old southern mentality” so prevalent during the 50’s and 60’s that believed in “equal but seperate.”
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:45 pm
My sister is a teacher and the horror stories she tells of the disruption caused by emotionally or mentally disabled children who have been mainstreamed into classrooms is mind blowing. Why anyone would want to be a teacher is beyond my wildest imagination.
This child needs to be in a special needs environment and not in a classroom geared towards normal paced education except when there can be another staff member in attendance to deal with problems which will occur. Teachers do not have the time to handle these “special” children and also teach everyone else’s kids. Every other child is being seriously shortchanged in their education and their parents should be the ones ready to sue the school board. The mother is the one who is at fault in this situation and she should be held fully accountable.
And maybe Valencia has so much time on her hands that she can call to committee with half the county concerning the situation. I would bet that the teacher had already been in contact with the school’s administration and with the mother and was getting little, if any, support. Valencia, are you and R.J. volunteering your time to go to the schools to help out the teachers who are short handed already so they can deal with these disruptive children? I’d be surprised.
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I am a preschool teacher with an autistic child in my classroom. I am also a parent of a child with no special needs. I see both sides. Autiscim…any form is unable to be diagnosed until age 5 however there are some signs if you know what to look for. Dealing with a child who has any type of diability at any age is extremely difficult and the teacher should have consulted the principal and parent if she had any concern. How she dealt with this poor child…who is struggling more than other kids his age… was completely uncalled for. Yes preschool is different from “regular” school..but only by age differences. Kindergarten teachers have aides…I have only myself with me in my classroom…the aide should be helping out more. As a teacher I know how difficult it is but she really should have found and alternate way of dealing with it. NOT HAVING 5-6 YR. OLDS VOTING THE KID OUT OF CLASS!! As a parent I really hope her appeal get denied.
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:49 pm
I agree - its amazing how they would subject the teacher and the other students in this class to the disruptions by this “victim” child. Did the teacher know the child had a condition or what?
It is absurd that they want to fire this poor woman.
If the kid has a mental issue or whatever it is he shouldn’t be permitted to disrupt everyone else.
mainstreaming is a joke. Its unfortunate that some children have problems such as this but why should everyone else have to suffer at this one child’s expense. Heaven knows we spend a fortunate around these parts on “education” surely we had something to accommodate this lady’s kid?
I wonder how she is paying for the retired teacher to home school him?
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Too bad for the all the people involved, but especially for the boy. He can’t help the fact that he has a disability. I hope that the teacher can be quickly reinstated though, because she is the one who has authority over the classroom, not the students. The student should’ve been placed in special education. If they do fire her and end up revoking her license, then what will she do next? End up flipping burgers at a local McDonald’s? All because of political correctness? When is this going to stop?
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:45 am
I support this teacher!!!! She could be my childs teacher anyday. I have a real problem with the fact that NOW the child has a diagnosised issue. Why Now???? I want to know how many notes went home? I want to know if this Mother made an effoert to work with the teacher, to let the teacher know what was gonig on with her son. Did this Mother speak at all with the teacher??? Some parents are sure quick to point the finger at the teachers. After the first interview with the Mother that I saw I was alrady on the side of the teacher. This Mother is looking for a hand-out or some kind of payout. You know who this hurts - the children that REALLY do have medical issues. The children that really need the extra care.
I can only hope that this teacher gets her job back. Let her try and make a difference in the childrens lives.
Good luck to her!
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:31 am
I’m disgusted with all the comments that say “these children should not be making other kids suffer”. Children with special needs are children first; they have the same rights as their peers. Remember when there was racial segregation, was that ok. Should we separate the boys from the girls, should we separate the kids with low reading levels or those who are way behind in math? Let’s just put all the perfect children in one classroom and the rest can be in their own school. Where is the line drawn?
Our world and minds grow by experiencing differences; in people, in learning, in seeing, in doing and all other differences. The children exposed to children with special needs aren’t suffering they are expanding their minds beyond what they experience in a closed world. It is being done successfully, with universal education where not just special needs children are gaining from this type of education. Those who are having trouble with one subject or have a specific type of learning style.
There are challenges and I too think teachers need more education and support on this matter. There should have been a way to handle the disruption. That doesn’t give this teacher a free pass to ridicule and subject a 5 year old to emotional trauma. Really does one want their child to think that is ok, I wouldn’t. This type of judgment I’m sure would happen in other situations. What if a child was wetting their pants (maybe had a urinary track infection) or having some other issues, would the teacher put that child in front of the class too?
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:32 am
My children are now in college and I can tell you I was never so glad to have them out of the PBC school system.
Over the years, we had several issues occur with little or no help from the administration. In elementary school, my oldest child was spit upon, had desks thrown at, things stolen, etc. and the teachers would beg us to go to the principal as they were at their wits end. Some of them had tenure of over 30 years!!! We were then met with all the excuses, there are problems in the home, he has behavorial issues. “Conflict Resolution” was what they would preach. What a joke. Never really addressing the real problems.
And then there was middle school…need I say more. Try even getting to the principal. High school was no better.
I believe elementary school teachers truly have the toughest jobs out of all the teachers. Too many parents expect them to do the parenting.
My point of this post is to show that so many are quick to judge this teacher and I ask, have you ever scolded your child and regretted it? Never made a wrong decision in discipline and said I could have and should have handled it differently? Right…. The administration did not support this teacher and deserves accountability as well, and most of all the mother.
Thank you Big Daddy, Jen and G I agree with your posts. Well written and well said. RJ, Jack and Valencia you are all part of the problem as I mentioned above.
Let’s hope in the end that Alex’s mother will get him the help he so deserves.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:36 am
I support the little boy and his family. Comments made that she had a 12 year track record means very little. There are plenty of teachers who are not our childrens advocate but their adversaries and in most cases the children are either too young or too fearful of repercussion from the teacher if any negative situation were told to parents and then pursued. It has been said that the teacher didnt know that the little boy was autistic. It shouldnt matter if the kid was learning impaired, emotionally distressed, or the top of his class with no problems, her handling of the situation was inappropriate and she certainly shouldnt be allowed to inflict her substandard actions on any more children. I am inquisitive to see how this works out. It is a pity that people here are so used to substandard situations that they dont realize what things should be.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:58 am
To those who wish eternal suffering upon me because I stated that the teacher needs support when dealing with a tough child, I say this: stop personalizing this situation!! This teacher made one–repeat that-ONE-mistake when trying to instill a modicum of discipline in her classroom. She did not spank this child; she did not make him sit in his own poop until the end of school; she did not make him sit in the corner (because the kid would not sit down or stand still); she did not send him to bed without supper or dessert.
All she tried to do is make the kid accountable to ANYONE
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
for his behavior. Obviously no one was doing that because of his “special need”. I’m sorry, just because you have a “special need” does not mean you get to disrupt my life or the lives of other children who do not have your “special need”. Because, if your “need” is that “special” that you are out of control, then you should be held out of social and public situations until you can properly control yourself. And for that, I salute Ms. Portillo for having the courage to try something to snap this kid into focus. I realize that his “disorder” makes that difficult for him, but that is HIS challenge in life, not the challenge of 16 other kids who just met him in August. That is his MOTHER’S challenge to get him behaviorally correct. The school is there to help as much as they can, but they are not his parent. The teacher was the only one who took seriously the notion that the kid needs to be able to control himself.
Obviously, her logic (that a child who recognized that he had hurt his peers because his peers told him so would change his behavior as to not offend his peers) was faulty because the kid was not ready for the prime time of a mainstream classrom.
But I do not fault her for trying and would not discipline her in any way because of this parent. This “mom” is one of those people who will end up apologizing for her son continually without any recognition that her lack of discipline is the reason for her son’s disruptive life. Kind of like the mom whose son is on death row says “But he was such a good boy.” Unnecessarily coddling your children does not make them better adults, no matter how cute they are or how much they whine when you discipline them. It makes them a problem for the rest of us.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 am
Special ed kids shouldn’t be in the classes with normal kids. They have different learning needs from other students…and its not fair to the other students either as it detracts from the learning time of all. All men are not created equal in the ability to learn.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 am
Big Daddy,
Do you know this mom? I don’t! How can you make judgment on a mom just because the child has a disorder that affects his ability to process his surroundings?
Everyone has differences that may make us stop and wonder (disrupting our lives). I’m sure you have disrupted someone’s life before. You might be doing that now. In fact you are disrupting my life right now, because I can’t resist replying to your message that implies that a person should be of higher standards than others.
I’m choosing to let you disrupt my life, because we have crossed paths on the internet. You are choosing to let a person with special needs disrupt your life. A teacher or a child can choose how a special needs child disrupts there life or the teacher can choose how to make the situation better by finding the resources and making it a learning opportunity. You might be surprised at how children often don’t notice certain situations as much as we would think.
You stated all the possible abuse situations that could have been, but you didn’t state the “Emotional Abuse”, which is what this is.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:27 am
Mom of 3 thinks “the teacher can choose how to make the situation better by finding the resources and making it a learning opportunity”. Hello? What teacher has the potentially unlimited resources, emotionally, physically, financially, etc. to make this situation a “learning experience”? When your child makes an F on a test because he was so upset about being hit or called names by a special child, let us know how you feel. When your child is bullied by the special needs child, how will that feel? When your child doesn’t want to be in the same classroom with this special child or even go to school at all, are you going to be able to find that learning experience and grow with it? Maybe you are willing to sacrifice your children so they can learn and experience all of this but I wouldn’t. Children need to be taught to respect others and they need to be taught this at an early age. It would have been preferable if the mother had done her job and taught her son better but she didn’t so now she expects someone else to pay for her lack of parenting skills. The mother is also looking for the taxpayer to supplement her with some compensation. How lucky, Mom of 3, you must feel to be able to possibly help pay for Ms. Barton’s very nice pool and other living expenses.
I sincerely hope the teacher wins her appeal.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:30 am
Bravo to that mother - That teacher was downright cruel and should have known better. I cannot believe that she loves her profession and the children who she is in charge of nor can I believe that she is a positive role model in her classroom. If that teacher truly understood the mind of a child and how important it is to be kind even in her discipline she would not have been able to act in such a negative and stupid manner. There are many teachers in our school system who pretend to love their profession and love to teach our children. On the contrary many of them are just so frustrated with their own stinking lives and totally burned out. They do not fool me. Again good for that mother. It is about time that teachers are accountable for their disturbing actions.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
G,
I’m wondering about that F for being upset about a special child hitting them, hmm, really. Did I say unlimited, there are resources, and districts do need to provide teachers with these. It isn’t ok to be bullied either way, but this 5 year old was bullied by his teacher. I see a lot of perfect parents and with perfect kids, don’t we all want to be that, NOT. My kids aren’t sacrificing any, they are gaining more. Life isn’t all about being perfect and being advance in academics, that may not get you as far as if you would have knowledge about all aspects that make up this world. I can’t believe that I’m hearing so many bad comments about a mom who stood up for her child. What if it was your child for what every reason? How many 5 year olds are not respectful to their siblings or others? And who ever said this child was disrespectful. I think people are putting in their own information.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:16 am
The kid sounds like a real brat (as confirmed by the 14/2 vote to throw him out of the class by the children he was disrupting in addition to the vote he deserved a good ASS-WHIPPING.
Bring back corporal punishment and give this teacher a raise and a PADDLE. The school system needs more teachers like her, and less parents like the brats mom.
The good out of all of this is this brat is not disrupting class any longer, but now costing us a fortune to ejucate (ha) at home, THUS taking funds from many other children in our communities.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Mom of 3, I’m letting you know what goes on in classrooms where the schools are required to mainstream children who should be in special education settings or where the school should provide extra staff to accomodate the mixed classes. These are true stories. It is not necessary to make them up. With the budget shortfalls, there are staff limitations across Florida so teachers do not get the extra staff support they need. There are resource limitations on everything and you don’t know that the teacher hadn’t taken advantage of what was available. You are just being judge and jury based on news articles. The teacher had sent this child, on this one day, to the office twice only to have him returned to the classroom. How many times had this happened previously we can only guess but this was, obviously, not just an event that had happened rarely. Also, remember, at the time of the event that this child had not been diagnosed with mental problems and was just a problem child who was out of control. Place your blame on the administration for not requiring the mother to come pick up her kid if you must place the blame somewhere else than where it actually lies, with the mother.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
I am praying that Mrs.Portillo does not get suspended for one year and lose her retirement benefits. It seems as if she honestly was at her wit’s end. I retired form teaching 2007, and I know what it’s like to have just one student with disruptive behavior in a classroom of any grade level.
I had a student in second grade who said he was going to kill me and tried to make good on the threat the very next day when he brought the largest red cross knife from home on the bus to kill me with. I thank God that the children got off of the bus told administration and he was stopped before he got to my classroom. I never saw him again. He too had a problem but the support was there for me at my school.
It is very frustrating for teachers sometimes during any day when you have the same students with various disorders not being able to focus on learning. I have almost cried looking at the majority of students in the classroom suffering because the teacher can’t teach,the students can’t learn because of the many disruptions which prevents a conducive atmosphere for learning to take place.
I read the the little boy is home with a teacher now; I am sorry this could not have happened sooner for the sake of this teacher. She should not be the “fall person” to take all the blame. I am sure some of those students who were in that classroom must have shared with their parents how the student behaved. Please come forward and support this good teacher. A teacher really loves all her students and wants all of them to be successful. It is so much pressure on teachers today, we really need all the support and help we can get for all our children. Remember, Parents are teachers first and our expectations should be high for our children. We much support our teachers!!!
Again, I sure would like to like the system to show mercy and grace to this loyal hard working teacher, with excellent evaluations for 12 years of faithful service to
the students of that community. Does she really need to be given this harsh of a punishment for one incident that she is sorry for. What good with come out of destroying her life. She worked hard to earn her degrees for her position and would not be in a classroom unless she loved teaching–her career
Thank you very much,
J.P.
he
February 5th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
I am praying that Mrs.Portillo does not get suspended for one year and lose her retirement benefits. It seems as if she honestly was at her wit’s end. I retired form teaching 2007, and I know what it’s like to have just one student with disruptive behavior in a classroom of any grade level.
I had a student in second grade who said he was going to kill me and tried to make good on the threat the very next day when he brought the largest red cross knife from home on the bus to kill me with. I thank God that the children got off of the bus told administration and he was stopped before he got to my classroom. I never saw him again. He too had a problem,but the support was there for me at my school.
It is very frustrating for teachers sometimes during any day, when you have the same students with various disorders not being able to focus on learning. I have almost cried looking at the majority of students in the classroom suffering because the teacher can’t teach,the students can’t learn because of the many disruptions which prevents a conducive atmosphere for learning to take place.
I read the the little boy is home with a teacher now; I am sorry this could not have happened sooner for the sake of this teacher. She should not be the “fall person” to take all the blame. I am sure some of those students who were in that classroom must have shared with their parents how the student behaved. Please come forward and support this good teacher. A teacher really loves all her students and wants all of them to be successful. It is so much pressure on teachers today, we really need all the support and help we can get for all our children. Remember, Parents are teachers first and our expectations should be high for our children. We must support our TEACHERS!!! THEY NEED PARENTAL SUPPORT. Students overall performance is much better when their parents are actively involved with their educational day to day activities.
Again, I sure would like the system to show mercy and grace to this loyal hard working teacher, with excellent evaluations for 12 years of faithful service to
the students of that community. Does she really need to be given this harsh of a punishment for one incident that she is sorry for?
What good with come out of destroying her life? She worked hard to earn her degrees for her position and would not be in a classroom unless she loved teaching–her career.
Thank you very much,
J.P.
he
February 14th, 2009 at 9:52 am
That
February 14th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Thank you for your help!
March 4th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Mrs. Poole -
Please email me. jocelyn.hankins@gmail.com. I am old, old friend of your son.
Jocelyn
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:42 pm
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