Teacher had students vote an autistic peer out of class

The Florida teacher was suspended for a year, but will retain her tenure if the board approves.

In May 2008, Portillo was teaching kindergarten at Morningside Elementary in Port St. Lucie. She sent Alex, then 5 years old, to the office for disciplinary reasons. When he returned sooner than expected, Portillo brought him to the front of the classroom and allowed his classmates to tell him how his behavior affected him. Portillo then initiated a classroom vote to see whether Alex should be allowed to come back to class.

Alex lost the vote 14 to 2. He later was diagnosed with a form of autism.

Hat Tip: Many thanks Keith G in PV!

|Meredith Rodriguez

Comments

[gary]

And it never ends, like the Duracell battery it just keeps going on and on and on...nutjob stories lead the nation coming out of there....that's why they call it FLOOR-A-DUH..

[afinger]

The link won't work.

I'd need more details than what the summary says.
What did the kid do to deserve disciplinary action?
As it stands, I'm leaning towards approval of this action. Teach kids early that if they do stupid things, there's consequences.

My guess - the class was doing a fun activity and he had to sit in a corner or something.

[Searching]

Maybe the kid should have worked more on his social networking. Gaining alliances and such? :)

[AH]

Interesting that he was apparently discovered to be autistic after this happened. Made me wonder how many notes to the parents before this.

[LouiseBC]

It is my recollection that the child was in the middle of the autism evaluation process at the time of this incident, and the teacher and school were aware. Regardless of any possible disability, if a child is being sent out of the class for whatever reason, it should be the teacher handling it, and in a discreet way. To ask the child's peers to "vote" is just disgusting. Nobody would be happy to hear that his child was pitted against his classmates in this manner. The teacher is a bully.

[AH]

Some schools do have a process where other students decide on punishment or banishment so it may not be the fault of the teacher that it was handled this way. It may be the way the school is set up.

[Thin The Herd]

One would think that a presumably adult teacher would be able to do something other than throw a disciplinary matter over to 5 year olds.

Perhaps the teacher felt the kids were more qualified.

[emilie]

I am so shocked that anyone would think this was okay. Let's hope that you aren't teachers.

These are 5 year olds! One would hope that a teacher could come up with better classroom management strategies.

Do you know ANYTHING about autism? It's important for this child to understand how his actions are affecting others, but it is never okay to alienate a child like that. I am more upset about what she is teaching this child's peers than anything else.

[Jenn]

I cannot BELIEVE that this woman was UNANIMOUSLY voted back by her peers?!??!?! >:(

As I remember the story, the little boy WAS INDEED being very disruptive but was undergoing evaluations/assessments for an autism spectrum disorder (which Asperger's fits the bill).

But why ANYONE, would think that it's OKAY for FIVE YEAR OLD STUDENTS to vote a peer out of class, is beyond me!

Sure, the child should have been dealt with and disciplined, but not by actions of his peers, but rather by the adults that were in charge of the class.

The fact that he's got an autism spectrum disorder DOES come into play to some degree, as they very oftentimes don't understand social cues or regulate sensory input.

I absolutely am astonished that NOW she's being put with middle schoolers who are in the very bane of pubescent behaviors were ostracization of this magnitude can do great harm to a child's self-esteem and self-worth.

WHY is she being allowed to teach again?