St. Lucie County mom sues over son who was voted out of class
August 27th, 2009 by Daphne Duret
Alex Barton with his mother, Melissa Barton
A mother whose autistic son was voted out of kindergarten in St. Lucie County last year is planning a press conference this afternoon to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit against the school district, several school officials and the local teacher’s union.
The complaint submitted in federal court alleges 5-year-old Alex Barton suffered irreparable damage when his teacher Wendy Portillo “orchestrated a ‘Survivor-style’ vote” asking the boy’s classmates whether or not he should be allowed to return to the class after he’d been repeatedly disruptive. The class voted him out 14-2.
Alex has since been diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome.
Wendy Portillo answers questions during an administrative hearing.
The school board initially suspended Portillo one year and stripped her tenure, but in June they restored her tenue and said she will be allowed to return to the classroom in November.
St. Lucie County Schools spokeswoman Janice Karst this afternoon said the district does not comment on active livitgation.
Barton this morning declined to discuss the specifics of the lawsuit, reserving comment for the press conference scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at her attorney Paul Sopp’s office in West Palm Beach.
She did say that her son now attends a private school in Palm Beach County through a scholarship.
“He’s doing so well,” she said. “His teacher’s a sweetheart.”
Sopp said that that while Barton is seeking monetary damages from the suit, a victory in the case would help other students.
“What we’re trying to do is ensure that no one in the St. Lucie County school district is denied education based upon their disability,” Sopp said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Loading ...Tags: alex barton, autism, boy, court, federal, lawsuit, mom, mother, name, Schools, students, teacher, teachers, vote, voting
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August 27th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Its just such a shame to read an article about this because this teacher should w/out a doubt no better.I can understand the child disrupting the class and having him removed becuase of his behavior thats not where the problem lies it just blooooows my mind the teacher subjected the boy to that stupid game.SHAME ON HER!!! WHERE WAS HER COMMON SENSE!!!!
August 27th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Little Alex was in a regular class room rather than a program for children with special needs. This places a burden on the teacher and takes her time away from the rest of the children. Alex’s mother is seeking to place an additional burden on the school system with her frivolous lawsuit expending both the school board’s time and money at a time when both are in short supply.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Another frivolous lawsuit - We all pay for these one way or another. I’m not saying it was right what the teacher did but the son is probably feeling the way he is because of how the mother pumped it into him. Put an end to these lawsuits
people!!
August 27th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I’m suprised it took Ms. Barton this long. I guess we were just forgetting about this and she needed to make her name relevent again. Please Ms. Barton, move on. Alex is in a new school, hopefully one that can fulfill his special needs.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
There’s no telling what ’syndrome’ I had during that short time I acted up in school. All I know is I was miraculously cured by a few whacks to my backside in the principal’s office.Sounds like the mother and teacher could also use a whack, too.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
This lady is just money hungry and using her kid to extort money from the school system. I hope the judge throws this out and child protective services should get involved with this nut.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I am wondering who is more retarded, The mother or the son???????????????
August 27th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
The mother is an idiot saying her son is damaged. He’s going to grow up feeling less than his peers thinking he’s damaged goods.
It’s amazing the measures people are willing to go to to make an easy buck.
The son will probably grew up to be an alcoholic and drug addict. Way to go Mom!
August 27th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
The parents should counter sue this moron for having a kid that disrupted the rest of the class and their education time. The teacher did nothing wrong, the child needs “special” classes so put him with the rest of the retards in Port St. Lucie.
BTW Nicola………you should brush up on your english/grammar skills. The sentence should have been that the teacher should “know” better not “no better.” Maybe you had an unruly autistic kid in your class the day they taught that lesson.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
well if he was voted OUT what does that tell you about the kid, none of the other kids liked him and I’m sure it was because of the way he acts and who teachs him manners and social skills? The Parent !!so she is sueing because she doesn’t know how to parent.just another case of trying to get something for nothing.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I would sue too! The teacher is lucky there was not violence involved and a legal process instead!
August 27th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
There are definately two sides to this story. The mother should put her son in the “special” needs class, not a regular class. Then again, the teacher should not have done a “survivor style” vote off for that kid. The mother should not sue when you can just move your kid in a different class. I agree Kris, the mother sounds money hungry to me.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
TEACHERS ARE TEACHERS OF A CLASS AND SHE WAS ATTEMPTING TO TEACH HIM BEHAVIOR. HE WAS DISTRUPTIVE AND HE IS DISRUPTING MANY MORE LIVES RIGHT NOW. THE TEACHER WAS DOING HER JOB T E A C H I N G!!!!!!
August 27th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I am with Jason. Little Alex should have been in a special needs class and NOT a regular class. Unless I miss my guess, is it not true that the parent is the first to recognize signs that your child might have a learning disability and it is the parent’s responsibility to have the child tested. Once you have the test results then you are able to make intelligent choices for your child. The teacher had no way of knowing that Alex should have been in a special needs program and I feel bad for the children that lost so much learning time dealing with Alex’s behavioral problems.
I say all of this because I am the parent of an adult child that was diagnoised with ADD and with the right classroom setting, changes in diet, and special tutoring we are quite well today. But, it takes a lot of hard work on the parent’s part.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
My son went to Windmill Point elementary in the 80’s.He has ADHD.One of the teachers there would degrade,and make my son feel like an out cast.The other kids would make fun of him.My son was tall,and constantly made fun of by peers as well as adult staff in front of peers.I wish I would of tried to have all of them terminated.They did a lot of damage to him.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Most of you commenting are sphincters. None of you have any clue as to what type of disruption it was, how often or what, if any, warnings were given. The teacher was well within her rights to expel the child from class.
Having a ‘vote’ is moronic enough when adults do it to entertain a country of mind-numbingly ignorant lemmings, but to involve children is criminal. Her teaching license should have been suspended.
If the kid was jewish, all of south Florida would have been in an uproar.
August 27th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Wow! I am glad to see this happening. I didnt think they were going to file lawsuit it took so long.
August 28th, 2009 at 8:33 am
*** Attorneys *** Money*** Drama *** More Money *** What else is their really to say???? We all know what’s going on here. We have a mother with a ticket to some big money and attorneys willing to make it happen; for a price of course. How typical……..
September 7th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Melissa Barton is a money hungry drama queen. This incident does not deserve any news coverage and certainly not a lawsuit. Check Barton’s past. She’s had a lot of practice with this sort of thing. Read about her connection to a time share sale scheme. She has been married several times, so check for Figg as well as Barton. Trace her all the way back to Oklahoma. See if the records reveal whether or not she ever got her GED. Read the letter to the editor of TCPalm by her sister, Stepphanie Godsey. HER SISTER APOLOGIZES FOR BARTON’S ACTIONS.
September 12th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
You people cannot be serious!! I would be suing the teacher too! And I am a teacher! What she did was totally, completely WRONG. I teach regular ed. in a rough inner city area and believe me, I’ve had plenty of children whose behavior was out of control. Over and over and over again. Where you want to pull your hair out by the roots. But I would NEVER do what this woman did. Some of you are saying things like “she was doing her job” and defending her actions because the child was such a problem. Am I a pushover who can’t teach because the kid(s) run the classroom? Absolutely not. I am very strict and stern, as well as warm and caring.
NO WAY she was doing her job. How about having the child removed from the class? Working with other professionals in the school? Bringing the parent in? Developing a relationship with the child? Behavior modification? Putting the child up for special evaluation? Working with the principal to solve the problem in a PROFESSIONAL manner? It doesn’t matter to me if the child was “special needs” or not…NO CHILD deserves to be treated like that. PADDLING would have been more humane than what she did.
The mother’s personality flaws that people are pointing out are irrelevant. The kid being autistic also has nothing to do with anything. Whether or not the kid is damaged from this has nothing to do with anything, either. These have nothing to do with whether this teacher did the right thing. Stop trying to divert attention away from the real problem, which is instead of handling a tough situation professionally and correctly, the teacher’s actions were childish and cruel. Darn right, I’d sue, not for $$ but to send a message to other teachers who are cruel like this and for her to be fired, once and for all. Maybe this mother is as crazy as a loon, I have no idea. I’ve worked with plenty of crazy parents, but that does not excuse the unethical actions of this teacher.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I looked into the Josh claim regarding the Barton case and this is what I found.
It seems that Stepphanie and her husband Brandon Godsey are in financial trouble, could this poorly written letter -refered to by anna to a local editor be a tool for black mail? It seems that they can not even keep a vehicle for their five children to ride around in - sad.
http://www.oscn.net/applications/ocisweb/GetCaseInformation.asp?submitted=true&viewtype=caseGeneral&casemasterID=2226596&db=Tulsa
October 14th, 2009 at 12:46 am
I cannot believe that anyone, anyone at all would support Portillo who must rank up there with the world’s most horrible creatures of all time.
Thank God Melissa is suing..the only reason she’s doing so is because the pathetic BOA found that a teacher who abuses children should continue to work with children. Portillo is lucky she wasn’t my son’s teacher. My son is on the autism spectrum as well and I will tell you that the only people speaking out against Melissa Barton are misinformed naive trolls who know nothing about constantly doing battle with idiots who treat children on the spectrum as if they are worth less than mainstream children…it’s disgusting and to be honest..Portillo brings down my opinion of teachers and education boards….she does no service to anyone…shame on her and the school board…they both disgust me.
October 14th, 2009 at 1:25 am
Well, after reading the comments here, I realized what idiots Melissa Barton was up against..people here calling her son retarded, saying her son should have been beaten, saying she’s money hungry…meanwhile her and her son were absolute victims here. So many responses here make me sick, but yet, they also make it easier to see why they brought back Portillo…it seems the morons here reflect the same low life backward way of thinking of the school board.
Luckily for Melissa and her son that he’s now in a private school - away from the sickness of this public school system.
I hope she not only wins her suit but also is awarded double by the judge…
To everyone who posted cruel stupid posts here…all I can say is you seem to be a collection of backward thinking trolls who deserve the very backward thinking board of education and school system you all have.
Congratulations idiots..you’ve got what you deserve! LOL
October 20th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Let’s all just hope that the civil suit gets thrown out and this circus ends. Then, we can all watch to see what Melissa Barton’s next scheme is. Too bad for her that someone already used the ‘My kid is floating away in a balloon’ scheme. Melissa Barton did already try the ‘Someone threatened me in the parking lot; I want her arrested’ scheme. I don’t think that too much came of that one. But, Barton did move out of the county.
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Fat-Family-In-Dundee-Split-Up-As-Overweight-Couples-Seven-Children-Taken-Into-Care/Article/200910415411313?lpos=UK_News_Second_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15411313_Fat_Family_In_Dundee_Split_Up_As_Overweight_Couples_Seven_Children_Taken_Into_Care
New article about “Josh”
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Hi Melissa. I’m still here keeping an eye on your antics. I’ve forwarded a lot of stuff to the school board. The discovery phase of your lawsuit may prove to be very interesting. If I were you, I’d bail out now. But, I’m a lot smarter than you. You have a history of making bad decisions.
I see you’re calling me fat with your post under the alias ‘UglyFatBoy’. You don’t know who I am. I’m not fat. But, you’re stupid.
Move on to your next scam. You certainly don’t want your lies to be exposed during a trial. Forget this one! Move on. Have you tried a slip and fall scam at a place with deep pockets? How about planting a dead mouse in your chili at Wendy’s? I know it’s already been done, but you could do it with more flair.
November 29th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
you people make me sick he cant help his behavior he has Asperger’s syndrome. i have a sibling with this and she has gotten better with her social skills, because she has been allowed in a regular classroom. were she can observe propper social behavior.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
You have written a great article here, very informative and good approach.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:08 am
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