PBMom's Blog

Imagine if you will, your child is a kindergartener.  Now imagine if they had a difference that set them apart:  Perhaps the color of their skin, their eye color, they had a physical deformity, or they had allergies that made them sneeze or cough more often than the other children -- basically something that is an inate part of themselves that they cannot change. 

Imagine now, that your child is put up in front of the class and each child is made to say what they "hate" about that child.  Then the vote is put to the class?  Do we let the child stay in the class or does the child have to leave?

Sounds like an episode of reality TV.  But on reality TV, these people are, for the most part, adults.  Imagine how you would feel standing in front of that class hearing these things.  You would be traumatized.  Your feelings would be hurt. 

This was the lesson of the day in a Port St. Lucie classroom this past week.   That day, Wendy Portillo, a 12-year veteran teacher, taught the children a lesson of hate, a lesson of bullying, and a lesson that if people aren't like you, they don't have to deal with them.

When his mother went to pick up Alex Barton at school, he was in the nurse's office and was quite shaken up.  When she asked the nurse what happened, the nurse referred her to the teacher.  The teacher told her what she had done, not seeing anything wrong with it.  Apparently during this "lesson" the other students said he was "disgusting" and "annoying."  His only friend he had made had initially voted for him to stay, but felt tremendous pressure by the teacher to change his vote and now he feels terribly that he did.  The teacher, now denying she told the parent this, apparently told the mom that when he was voted out of class, she asked him what he would do now.  His reply was, "Go to the principal's office?"  She said, "They don't want you there either."   The teacher then asked him how he felt and he said, "I feel sad."  He then left the office and spent the rest of the day in the nurse's office (and the parent was not called at all that she needed to pick him up). 

This child was in the process of being evaluated for a type of autism called Asperger's.  These kids are noted for their social isolation and eccentric behaviors.  The teacher was a part of that process and knew very well the evaluation process was going on.  The evaluation process takes literally months.   How does a lesson in social isolation teach a child who already wants to be by themselves want to be part of the group? 

He now is reliving the incident and spent Thursday night saying over and over again, "I'm not special."  The child now starts screaming as the mother drops the siblings off at the same school.  He will not return to the school because he has been harmed emotionally. 

Portillo, the teacher, told the local police that the vote was only meant to be for the day, not for good, so she is admitting she did this. 

Earlier this week, she was on the Early Show on CBS. 

Comments from all around the world are being sent to the family as well as being posted on-line.  Even other teachers and paraprofessionals are saying this woman deserves to be fired; some fellow teachers throughout the country say she needs to lose her license and not teach again.

According to the Florida State Board of Education Rule 6B-1.006 FAC, The Principles of Professional Conduct of the Education Professional in Florida, she violated four of these codes of conducts, which can get her license suspended.  These are:

(3) Obligation to the student requires that the individual (meaning the teacher)

(a)  Shall make reasonable effort to protect the student from conditions harmful to learning and/or to the student's mental and/or physical health and/or safety.

(e)  Shall not intentionally expose a student to unnecessary embarrassment or disparagement.

(f) Shall not intentionally violate or deny a student's legal rights

(g)  Shall not harass or discriminate against any student on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, marital status, handicapping condition, sexual orientation, or social and family background and shall make reasonable effort to assure that each student is protected from harassment or discrimination.

Right now she has been removed from the classroom and assigned to the district offices pending the investigation.

This is not about the child's right to be in that classroom as a workup was in progress to determine if he had autism and if he did have autism, discussions would be held as to what would be most appropriate for him in the least restrictive environment as the IDEA law states. 

This comes on the heels of a new report where a regular education child's parents sent a digital recorder to school with him in Indiana so they could hear how the teachers he complained about were treating him.  In the recording, two women can be heard, one of whom tells the boy he is being pathetic.  When another student came over to find out what was wrong, she tells the class about Ross' behavior problem and says, "If you want to act like him, then go ahead and be his friend."  This teacher has been suspended. 

So my question blogger is this -- how would you feel if your child came home and told you they had been voted out of class and were humiliated for no apparent reason in the process?   Secondly, with all the newest information coming out of classrooms via digital recorders and camera phones, do you believe we should take the step that day care centers have taken where there are cameras in every classroom (with audio) and you can sign on with a special password and see, at any moment, what is going on in that classroom?  You can see the behavior of all -- the teacher, your child (and if your child is acting out, you can appropriately discipline them at home).   Supreme Court has already ruled that audiotaping of a classroom does not violate confidentality issues. 

I for one would welcome this as my nonverbal child cannot tell me how his day was and I'm at the mercy of the school staff, some who are good and decent public servants and some who haven't been.