Intense Support For Spurned Kindergartner

Fla. Boy Was Voted Out Of His Class; Reports: Teacher Reassigned, And Boy Has Autism

(CBS)  Alex Barton may have been voted out of his kindergarten class, but he's being showered with public support, and from some very far-flung places.

Alex's mother, Melissa Barton, says she's outraged and mulling legal action after his classmates in Morningside Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, Fla. voted 14-2 last week in favor of removing Alex from the class -- an action Barton says was led by his teacher, Wendy Portillo. Before the vote, Barton says, Portillo had the students tell Alex, one-by-one, what they don't like about him.

Since then, according to the Fort Pierce (Fla.) Tribune, Portillo has told local police the vote was only meant to be for the day, not for good.

The newspaper also reports that Alex has now been officially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism, and with Attention Deficit Disorder.

School district officials tell the newspaper Portillo, who's been a teacher for 12 years, nine at Morningside, has been reassigned to the district offices, and that an on-going investigation of the incident could take up to two weeks.

Portillo's brother was killed in the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the newspaper adds.

Barton, who spoke with Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith earlier this week, gave Smith an update Friday, along with Dr. Jed Baker, a clinical psychologist and an expert on autism spectrum disorder behavior and education.

Barton told Smith she's getting hundreds and hundreds of e-mails of encouragement, from places as far away as the Netherlands and Australia.

The writers, Barton told Smith, "really care about the children right here in our country and the education they're receiving. And above all things, they care about discrimination and how it's just not the way to go."

Barton says she's keeping Alex home from school the rest of the year, explaining that, "I still have a lot of things to think about and to find the right program for him and the right school and the right situation. You know, he really needs an understanding and an appreciative teacher who works with differences and he's not like all the other children."

Baker has penned several books, the latest of which is, the most recent being "No More Meltdowns: Positive Strategies for Managing and Preventing Out of Control Behavior."

He says he's concerned about "the message we're teaching our kids. (Are we teaching) impressible, five-year-old, kindergarten kids to accept each other and to value diversity and to teach people to help those with special needs, or are we encouraging intolerance? And I think, when a teacher takes the lead in allowing this to happen or encouraging that, it's a form of bullying, because she has quite a bit of power in that situation."

To see the complete interview from Friday, click on the arrow in image below.



To see Tuesday's Early Show interview of Barton, click on the arrow in image below.

[tonya1973-2009]

I just wanted you to know, that I have a child that has special needs. She is 11 yrs old now, and she has pieces missing out of chromosome number 10. It took several years to figure out what was wrong. I have had her in 3 different schools because of her problems and the teachers and other students not being able to understand her. I wanted to let you know that final on the third school, I have found where not only the teachers, but the students have accepted her for who she is. I live in Coalmont, Tennessee and the school is not very big, but they have several teachers that work with childeren with disablities. She gets the help she needs plus interact with kids her own age. I know how fustrating it is to find the right school for childeren with problems. The first two schools wanted to claim she was retarded for school funding and TCAP testing. They didn''t want to loose their rating. Coalmont Elemetery does what the parents want and what the child needs. The school doesn''t look like much, and they are in desperate need for more rooms, but my daughter is very loved by all the staff and students. There is hope out there.

[mattsmom42]

My heart goes out to Alex and his mother.I have a 5 yr old son with PDD-NOS(mild Autism)speech delay.My son is getting help for being a special needs child at his school.I know that Alex and his mother will get the help they need and then some.This is just another example of how administrators and students need to accept and NOT discriminate and humiliate a child with special needs.This school needs to get with the times.Autism and all other autistic disorders is not going to go away.This is an epidemic and there is NO CURE for this brain disorder.That school district needs to be educated on child with special needs.Hello?Get with the program.

[thehand2]

When parents of "special needs" children mainstream their child into the public education system, they have to realize they are passing the care of their child onto a system that is not totally capable of handling the special needs of the child. Few teachers in the public education system are trained or certified as special education instructors. While I do not condone the actions of Alex Barton''s teacher, she was put in a compromising situation of having to handle a child with behavioral problems. Alex''s parents have had years of training in handling his special needs. Chances are, Alex''s teacher hasn''t had any special needs training.

[delouwa]

My daughter has Fetal Alcohol Effect and as such she has some learning disabilities and social difficulties. We had no choice but to mainstream her as that was the "rule" here. She endured bullying from students and teachers alike. I was in a constant battle of some sort with the school, teachers, school district, etc. and while I understand how difficult it can be for the teacher who has had no training and is ill-prepared for students like this, I also feel they chose this profession, for better or worse and if they don''t want to deal with it, then choose something else. I will say however, that my daughter was also blessed with some wonderfully caring teachers along the way as well, graduated from high school and is now a functioning/contributing member of society. My heart goes out to the Bartons and I''m sorry but I have no use for this teacher. She is on the wrong career path. Until the powers that be understand that every child is NOT created equal and therefore unable to compete with all other students and makes mainstreaming an individual, optional and informed choice, we are going to have these incidents.

[mswolfestock]

Two things really scare me about this article -

First - The teacher was WAY, WAY out of line in the way that she handled this situation. She should have gone through the proper channels in dealing with a "difficult situation." If this kid had such problems that prevented the class from functioning, she should have had conferences with the boy''s parents and school administrators (and maybe insisted that the boy have some testing or an exam, or something). Something radical needs to be done with the country''s school systems if the teachers are all as dumb as this one seems to be.

Second, didn''t the mother have any kind of clue that her son had behavioral issues? If she was that far into denial, she herself needs a lot of help.

I''m sorry that this little boy was treated so badly; it all seems so unnecessary. The teacher ought to find another line of work, and fast.

[snoopy28173]

How can it be that teachers can be so crual? This will undoubtly haunt this little boy forever. Teachers are supposed to know better. They are supposed to be the adults.

I am learning disabled and my parents faught the system tooth and nail. I had some terrific teachers; especially in middle school. I also had some realy bad teachers including a special ed teacher that called me stupid and that I should know that by now. It cut like a razor. His words still echo and that happened in 1990. He also was a special ed teacher and that hurt even more.

This teacher ought to be fired and her NTE certivacation stripped never to be returned again. Put her through some sensitivity training by having someone say that to her.

[naturelady95]

I was appalled when I saw the news today and heard about the autistic child who was "voted out" of his classroom. I''m even more appalled that the teacher has not been fired. She gives all teachers everywhere a bad name. I am also a Spec. Ed. Teacher. What she did was prejudicial and harmful. That school system must be really hard up to keep someone like that employed. And what does her brother dying in 9/11 have to do with anything?

[sweetchuckd]

Check out http://detentionslip.org for more crazy stories like this every day from our schools.

[cbsreader5]

I am going to take the unpopular stance of defending the teacher based on the lack of information regarding a pattern of this type of unacceptable behavior by the teacher. My son has ADHD and despite therapy and medication, he can be quite a handful at times. I completely understand that a person not familiar with his situation would perceive him as nothing more than a bad child. If I''m not mistaken, the story states that the child in the article was diagnosed after the incident so the teacher appears to have been unaware of the nature of his issues. Of course, the teacher never should have acted in this manner regardless of the reason. However, it is possible that she was having a very bad day and the child''s consistently bad behavior pushed her over the edge. I have seen it happen with my child. I don''t like it, but I do understand. If there is a demonstrated pattern of this type of behavior then the teacher should be reprimanded. If it is an isolated incident then forgiveness may be in order. I also think that the diagnosis will now help to prevent this sort of problem in the future.

[blue_eyes68]

The mother was not in denial... the orginal story/video mentioned he was in diagnostic stage..no formal diagnoses made, but he was being evaluated.

[mamaklayer]

I just wanted to say that I am appalled at what that teacher did to that boy. I am an aide in a multiple handicapped room and have worked with kids that have all kinds of diabilities. These kids are inlcuded in regular classrooms for different parts of the day. I don''t know if that particular school has aides that go with these children, but all staff and students treat these kids with the same kind of love and kindness as all the kids in the building. I cannot believe that she was not fired immediately. There are no words to explain how I feel against the teacher except she has no business being in a classroom.

[klineskid]

Like the first person who posted a comment, I too was an Aide in public school for many years. The bulk of my experience has been as a 1:1 aide for children with cerebral palsy in inclusion programs. It was my job to help them fit into their daily routine in a "regular education" classroom.I have had the opportunity to attend many workshops and trainings over the years and one of the most important things I ever learned was in a workshop outlining the difference between the terms "mainstream," integrate," and "inclusion." Bottom line: INCLUSION IS MORE A VALUE THAN A PROCESS. It was mentioned in this morning''s segment that teachers need ongoing training to effectively include special needs students in their classrooms. That is glaringly true, however, if an individual educator does not hold inclusion as a value in her/his own personal value system, it will be a rocky road for all concerned. I wish the best for the young man and his family in Florida.

[rwsmith29456]

The teacher, even if not trained for special needs, should know a better way to document and report disruptive behavior.

Sad thing is...this is one case that made national news. My son''s been living this nightmare for 5 years now being kicked out of schools twice not to mention all the suspensions (in school and out) and one time even being intimidated into a meltdown which caused him to put his hand thru a glass window... 13 stitches. School says it''s not their fault! (Of course, it took 1-1/2 hours of them intimidating him to make him blow when his IEP says 10 minutes, get someone else.) Only way I can do anything? If I have $15,000-plus to go due process against the district.

[carolsadler]

Regardless of whether the teacher was having a bad day, if she needed help with this student, she should have referred him to special education and requested the school district test him for possible disabilities. This was her federal duty under "Child Find". It is inappropriate to embarrass, intimidate, and bully any child, and is certainly NOT best teaching practices. Let''s hope she is removed and provided the proper training she needs before she is put back into another classroom.

Carol Sadler, IEPAdvocate4You

[smyers161]

I am the father of an Autistic 19 year old daughter.
this is commonplace in the world of public schooling. I had to sue our local school system 4 times to procure my daughter''s rights. Anyone who defends this teacher doesn''t know anything about special needs kids. These children cannot help their behavior especially those diagnosed after they start school. The emotional abuse will last years if not a lifetime.
Would you condone doing this to a blind child? Or a down syndrome, or a child with cerebral palsey? It''s the exact same thing! Fire this woman, NOW!

[puzzler125]

I was at a local dept store last week and a young boy, approximately seven years old, had a sign on his bigger kid "stroller" that said, "I have autism. Be patient with me." I have never seen that before and have thought about it since. It must have taken a great deal of courage for his parents to put the sign there for the world to see but it really made me think about how I will respond if I am in a line with his family in a store, if he talks to me or if I said hi to him. His parents are educating all of us.

[jamilynk]

As a public school kindergarten teacher, I am very disappointed and outraged at this teacher''s behavior. I was very blessed this past school year by being able to teach a child on the autism spectrum. He brought so much joy to our classroom and helped me to better understand autism. I am so thankful for this little boy. That teacher missed out on an awesome opportunity to not only educate a child, but for that child to educate her. All children are special individuals and should be treated that way regardless of the situation.