Special needs child "voted" out of classroom

[SewingDeb]

She must be reassigned right out of the school and fired, never to return to a classroom.

I totally agree. Our children do not need to be exposed to this kind of teacher.

 

[NaNaRosebud]

Some of you who are not teachers don't know how terrible it is for the REGULAR, well behaved kids in the classroom and just how disruptive one kid with BIG BIG behavior problems can disrupt learning in the classroom.

You don't get the other side of the story. WHen a child disrupts to the point that the other children are paying attention to what the disruptive kid is doing and not what the teacher is trying to teach.....no learning for the entire class is going on.

I agree that this teacher went to extremes. But just think of the other side of the story and how she was trying to make the behavior kid understand that the OTHER kids in the room wanted to LEARN and did not want to hear his constant rowdiness and problem behavior!!

 

[Floh]

The vote is up to 973 signatures now.

The petition Let's vote Wendy Portillo out of her Kindergarten class! is here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Fire-teacher-for-unprofessional-conduct

btw, online petitions are of no earthly use, IMO, but it should send a message people are angry.

petition # is 996 . . .

 

[Floh]

Some of you who are not teachers don't know how terrible it is for the REGULAR, well behaved kids in the classroom and just how disruptive one kid with BIG BIG behavior problems can disrupt learning in the classroom.

You don't get the other side of the story. WHen a child disrupts to the point that the other children are paying attention to what the disruptive kid is doing and not what the teacher is trying to teach.....no learning for the entire class is going on.

I agree that this teacher went to extremes. But just think of the other side of the story and how she was trying to make the behavior kid understand that the OTHER kids in the room wanted to LEARN and did not want to hear his constant rowdiness and problem behavior!!

I genuinely understand disruptive children in a classroom is very difficult and should be dealt with. :blowkiss:

the point of this thread, i believe, is to address the teacher staging a 'vote' in the manner she did which was unprofessional and cruel.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

So has this teacher been hanged on the playground yet?

 

[sherri79]

This county is in a uproar over this. Acouple of weeks ago it was an issue overtwo coaches reading they had been replaced in the paper before the h.s. principal told them. Then the vice principal of that school quit.
I really would like to know what had been going on inthis kindergarden class all year to lead up to this vote. What I mean is why this boy?

my son is currently being tested for this disorder. if this child is like my son i can give you a idea what this teacher dealt with all year that caused her to lash out and emotionally harm this child.

my son does not pick up on emotional expressions. when he is getting on your nerves he will not realize it. he can feel anger and frustration but he can not recognize the signs in others that they are feeling that way. when the class is loud all day and the teacher has had enough the kids will pick up on it and not push their luck. my son can not tell that the teacher is in a bad mood.

my son can not make friends easily. he gets on the last nerve of the other children. he has the same problem recognizing their emotional state as he has with adults. because he can not tell what they are feeling he can make a little disagreement worse. the teacher is forced to constantly step in and fix every disagreement my son is involved in. normally children learn to fix some of their own problems and avoid repeating the offensive action in the future. my son learns every subject at school well except social interaction.

my son has OCD type behavior. he will have outburst over silly things like getting the wrong pencil. when you have 20 to 30 children to deal with and 1 child interrupts class daily if they do not get their way with something simple like the correct place in line or subjects being out of order it will stress a teacher.

i understand how a child with this condition can stress a teacher. stress is not a excuse for this type of behavior. the child can not control the OCD or social issue without therapy. the teacher can control her behavior. if a child had epilepsy it would disrupt the class. daily seizures would cause a teacher to stress but we would not accept the teacher punishing the child for this.

 

[GlitchWizard]

Glitch, it isn't proven he has a disability yet if he's still "undergoing tests".

My son that doesn't have a disability was treated like this in Kindergarten. He just didn't understand his boundaries and that bothered the K teacher. He was kicked out of K and he cried everytime we drove by that school for a year. We were finally able to help him through it, with the help of loving friends, family members and a great teacher that took him under her wing.

So disability or not, this was horrible treatment for any child in school, no matter what age.

Actually, I just didn't separate my thoughts well. IF he is proven to have a disability, the act would probably apply. My second sentence that this was abuse and that I was surprised the school board didn't agree that it was... that goes no matter who the child is. (Or adult for that matter.)

If he didn't have any problems before this, he probably does now.

 

[Floh]

The vote is up to 973 signatures now.

The petition Let's vote Wendy Portillo out of her Kindergarten class! is here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Fire-teacher-for-unprofessional-conduct

btw, online petitions are of no earthly use, IMO, but it should send a message people are angry.

Petition is now 1,006.

 

[Paladin]

Petition is now 1,006.

How many votes do they need before it takes effect?

 

[csds703]

my son is currently being tested for this disorder. if this child is like my son i can give you a idea what this teacher dealt with all year that caused her to lash out and emotionally harm this child.

my son does not pick up on emotional expressions. when he is getting on your nerves he will not realize it. he can feel anger and frustration but he can not recognize the signs in others that they are feeling that way. when the class is loud all day and the teacher has had enough the kids will pick up on it and not push their luck. my son can not tell that the teacher is in a bad mood.

my son can not make friends easily. he gets on the last nerve of the other children. he has the same problem recognizing their emotional state as he has with adults. because he can not tell what they are feeling he can make a little disagreement worse. the teacher is forced to constantly step in and fix every disagreement my son is involved in. normally children learn to fix some of their own problems and avoid repeating the offensive action in the future. my son learns every subject at school well except social interaction.

my son has OCD type behavior. he will have outburst over silly things like getting the wrong pencil. when you have 20 to 30 children to deal with and 1 child interrupts class daily if they do not get their way with something simple like the correct place in line or subjects being out of order it will stress a teacher.

i understand how a child with this condition can stress a teacher. stress is not a excuse for this type of behavior. the child can not control the OCD or social issue without therapy. the teacher can control her behavior. if a child had epilepsy it would disrupt the class. daily seizures would cause a teacher to stress but we would not accept the teacher punishing the child for this.

This is an issue that really makes my blood boil. It is shocking to me that educators do not take the time to understand the behaviors of certain disorders. How can you effectively teach a child with a learning disability if you don't understand the beaviors that may come with it. I am not advocating accepting bad behavior, I am just saying they should know what to expect so they can properly redirect and teach. (that is their job)

 

[Taximom]

I didn't find one comment here that said this little boy had the right to disrupt the classroom. I think most of us here realize what it is like to have that happen. The main topic here is how this "teacher" handled the situation.

What gets me is that for the school to have started the testing process, problems were already identified. That whole process often takes weeks, if not months, to initiate and complete.

That teacher and others in that school or district, as well as his parents, knew there was a situation with that little boy that was serious enough for them to "test".

There should have been something in place to deal with his behavioral issues. I'm sure voting him out of the classroom wasn't one of the options.

 

[ttrachel04]

The vote is up to 973 signatures now.

The petition Let's vote Wendy Portillo out of her Kindergarten class! is here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Fire-teacher-for-unprofessional-conduct

btw, online petitions are of no earthly use, IMO, but it should send a message people are angry.

i agree Floh ... the school seems to have a stick up its bet ... the more we let them know people are angry, the more successful it is ...

btw, i signed it less than 24 hours ago and it was at 53 ... so that's about 1000 votes in less than a day ... pretty amazing !!!

 

[Taximom]

How many votes do they need before it takes effect?

Apparently 14.

 

[Floh]

How many votes do they need before it takes effect?

What effect can an online petition possibly have?

 

[Floh]

Apparently 14.

Really?

 

[ttrachel04]

The little boy's mother was on this CNN this morning. She said the teacher had each student tell why they didn't like her son before the vote off. His mother said he put it as each one told why they "hate" him. The interviewer compared it to a reality show where you are voted off the island.

This makes me so angry! I am just livid that this poor child was put through this. His mother thinks other children may have gone through this as well.

HA this story made the national news. and right now its one of the most popular on CNN ...

she may have made the little boy feel isolated by that class ... but ain't karma a bi*** ... cause now she's feelin isolated by the whole world !!!!

 

[Taximom]

Really?

I'm joking, Floh. 14 is the number that got this little boy kicked out of the class. :crazy:

 

[XcomSquaddie]

Some of you who are not teachers don't know how terrible it is for the REGULAR, well behaved kids in the classroom and just how disruptive one kid with BIG BIG behavior problems can disrupt learning in the classroom.

You don't get the other side of the story. WHen a child disrupts to the point that the other children are paying attention to what the disruptive kid is doing and not what the teacher is trying to teach.....no learning for the entire class is going on.

I agree that this teacher went to extremes. But just think of the other side of the story and how she was trying to make the behavior kid understand that the OTHER kids in the room wanted to LEARN and did not want to hear his constant rowdiness and problem behavior!!

No. I completely understand the other childrens' needs.

However, no behavior justifies what that teacher did.

There are mechanisms in place, procedures, rules, etc. to handle situations with consistently disruptive children.

There was an informal IEP in place. She ignored it.

There was a behavioral modification plan in place. She ignored it.

Alex's behaviors include hiding under a table, eating paper and crayons, humming and spinning. While these behaviors are disruptive they are not deliberately so. Such behaviors are called "stimming" and are natural for the autistic person.

Autistic people can not help stimming. They can not stop doing it.

The only way to stop an autistic person from stimming behavior is to distract them, ie using behavior modification. Even that is sometimes not effective.

Humiliating them and castigating them in front of their peers, then manipulating their peers into condemning them is not going to change their behavior. It's going to ruin their self-esteem.

The teacher could have taught the children to help with Alex allowing them to learn about helping others. In other words, "if Alex starts hiding under the table then do this..."

Trust me, it works. I have three kids, one autistic and two typical. The other two kids learned how to read their brother at an early age. They are very capable of redirecting his behavior away from stimming.

The children could have learned valuable lessons about helping others, dealing with disabilities and compassion.

They learned how to gang up on someone and how to criticize.

Alex Barton could have learned to modify his behaviors, modeling his peers.

He learned that he was "annoying" and "disgusting".


And one last thing.

Given the choice, most parents would have their autistic kids placed in specialized schools and/or classrooms where the classes and staff are geared towards their needs.

The school districts are the ones that insist on mainstreaming.
The school districts are the ones that cut costs.
The school districts are the ones hire these a$$hole teachers.

Do you have any concept of what these school administrations are like?

They'll sit in an IEP meeting and agree to everything, then cut corners when your back is turned. They'll blatantly ignore the IEP, then lie to you about how they are in compliance.

The only watchdog on your child's education is you. Your only weapon as a watchdog is a lawyer and legal attacks.

Guess what? No money, no lawyer, no means to fight back. The school can do whatever they want and you're stuck. They'll walk into a meeting and call for a continuance, wasting your time, work-time and money. They play the drain-game, winning by attrition because they know your funds are limited.

They'll force you to put your kid into a public school and then try to do as little as possible for him.

Don't blame the parents for a situation they neither wanted nor created.

 

[Floh]

I'm joking, Floh. 14 is the number that got this little boy kicked out of the class. :crazy:

:doh: I'm so slow.

 

[Taximom]

:doh: I'm so slow.

No you aren't! It was dumb. lol