Teacher Suspended For Letting Students Vote Alex Barton Out of Her Class
November 19, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Florida teacher Wendy Portillo—who allowed her kindergarten class to vote on whether or not their classmate Alex Barton could remain in class—-has been suspended without pay for a year, according to the Naples News.
More commentary at Aspie Web.
Good, that is all I can say…GOOD
I am glad something happened and it was just not forgotten. I do hope however that the school system continues to look into how they do things.
Good.
She get’s a year suspension, the child gets a lifetime of trauma related symptoms.
GOOD. I was really worried they’d just let it drop.
This story made http://detentionslip.org ! Check it out for all the crazy headlines from our schools.
Good…but not great. I hope it at least it made her and others realize that discrimination comes in all shapes, sizes and ages.
Thanks Kristina, I missed this update. Reading the article specifies that Ms. Portillo still believes that she was acting in Alex Barton’s best interest, by hearing the verdict from his peers. Does she actually think that an “intervention” implied by 5 year olds is pro-active?
She does not belong in the company with young children.
from TC Palm:
Indeed, yes.
“While school district internal investigators said there’s no evidence Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo meant to cause harm or embarrassment to Alex Barton, they said in a report released Thursday there is a question as to her judgment.”
In essence, she committed an act of discrimination against Alex and – generally speaking – there does not need to be an explicit intent to cause harm or embarrassment; it is sufficient that either (or both) has been caused, since (at least within the EU) the law can consider instances where either (or both) has been caused as de facto discrimination.
However, as one whose training qualifies him to teach developmental/social/educational psychology to those who are to become teachers, it is impossible that she could not (officially) know the likely consequence of her actions, since teachers have to learn about these sort of things (self-esteem and threats to it; group processes and how groups create outgroups based on arbitrary characteristics; and so on).
She may have only learned these things for the exam, and forgetten them afterwards, but that is no excuse. She set a child up for emotional harm. And the school board should themselves be aware of that. Modelling the act on a popular TV show is no excuse or mitigating factor against accusation of that.
“Barton in June put the St. Lucie County School District on notice she intends to file a civil lawsuit, claiming discrimination and Alex’s civil rights were violated. She said she expects a lawsuit will be filed by the end of this year.” (from the news item)
This is why I mention the issue of discrimination, and what can be construed as such.
As a teacher, I just don’t understand how she could have thought it all right to have the students “vote” Alex out of the class. Just not a good teaching practice—-or teaching, period.
I just don’t understand how she could have thought it all right to have the students “vote” Alex out of the class.
To model classroom democracy on “Survivor” (a show I personally loathe) is just bailing on adult responsibility in this situation, and especially one involving a special needs student. I think the superintendent phrased it well when he characterized one role of a teacher to be a reliable source of protection for students, esp. ones as young as these.
If Ms. Portillo doesn’t understand that, she doesn’t need a year-by-year contract, she needs to be in a different profession.