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.
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.
Once they're done w/the investigation then the school board or something votes on what to do with her. 
