In Port St. Lucie, the family of nine-year-old Alex Barton are exploring a lawsuit against teacher Wendy Portillo and the school district of his humiliation in front of his class. Alex is in the process of being diagnosed with autism, but Portillo still reportedly punished him by making him stand in front of the class as students were invited to list the things that they hate about him — then led a vote to throw him out of class. This apparently comes from the Lord of the Flies school of teaching.
The vote by his classmates was to toss him out of class by a 14 to 2 margin — there appears to be no superdelegates in this particular election with the teacher leading the vote.
Melissa Barton found her son in the nurse’s office where he had remained for the rest of the day.
He is being diagnosed with Asperger’s autism. which leads to such outbursts. It sounds like the district needs better training on the handling of autistic children and, if these allegations are true, some reinforced principles of common sense and compassion.
This could be a good lawsuit for not just negligence but intentional infliction of emotional distress.
For the full story, click here.
After enduring some mental and physical abuse from the nuns in grade school, I can attest to harm this kind of stunt can do to a child. I would agree that the parents should file against the district and the teacher. I am not a big fan of suing teachers, but this extreme case cries out for a loud reply from parents everywhere. Teaching is a tough job, but anyone with common sense should know that this type of activity is wrong. Even if the child was not diagnosed with autism, this type of public humiliation should be discouraged. Especially for such a young child.
This is cruelty plain and simple. Whatever little Alex’s conduct, there are other ways to handle the problems of autistic children. This may be a civil rights violation as well since the teacher was obviously acting under color of state law to deny this child the right to an appropriate education. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is just one law that was likely violated.
rafflaw, you need this…
Nunzilla
Say your prayers! No one is safe from the wrath of Nunzilla®! This fire-breathing wind-up sister trudges straight out of a Catholic-school student’s nightmare like a determined disciplinary force, with green eyes blazing and sparks flying from her mouth. Wearing the traditional black and white habit and carrying a Bible in one hand and a ruler in the other, this holy terror will have you owning up to transgressions from as far back as birth. 2″ tall and made of hard plastic, packaged in a custom cathedral-style box.
Christschool has done a masterful job of compiling draft letters of complaint to the authorities and the media over at Thinking in Metaphors. Anyone who wants to use them please let Christschool know and also forward copies to ASAN who are trying to coordinate responses.
Jill,
I think I dreamt about Nunzilla last night!!
I’m glad other people are blogging about this and spreading the word. I posted about it and so have others. Part of me feels a bit sorry for the Morningside principal when she opens her email on Tuesday morning, because this story’s spread around the Net fairly rapidly.
Mespo wrote:
This is cruelty plain and simple. Whatever little Alex’s conduct, there are other ways to handle the problems of autistic children. This may be a civil rights violation as well since the teacher was obviously acting under color of state law to deny this child the right to an appropriate education. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is just one law that was likely violated.
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Mespo, I couldn’t agree more! As the parent of a son with mild autism, this kind of cruel and outright malicious conduct from a “TEACHER” is despicable and completely unacceptable. In the Barton’s place, I’d be filing a huge lawsuit, against this so-called “teacher,” and the school district as well, even if I didn’t have much chance of winning.
What they did to this child, who didn’t ASK for his condition, in my view stops just short of criminal. I’m very glad that my son attends a special program, where students are treated decently and compassionately. I feel so badly for children like Alex Barton and his family, who aren’t nearly as fortunate. No one should be treated with such cruelty or deprived of an education because they are “different.”