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Mother of Boy Voted Out of Class Considers Legal Action

The mother of a 5-year-old boy, who was voted out of his class Survivor-style encouraged by his class teacher, has voiced her intention of filing a lawsuit against the school administration.

The story of Alex Barton, a Port St. Lucie preschooler – who is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, an advanced form of autism, has shocked parents and educators around the country. His classmates were asked by their teacher, Wendy Portillo, to list out all he things that they hated about Alex to his face, and they then voted the boy out of the class, 14-2. Miss Portillo has been watching too many reality shows, besides being an absolutely unfit teacher.

After the incident, Alex, his mother says, was sent to the school office where he sat broken and afraid, waiting for his mother to pick him up. His mother, Melissa, says, since then the child has been petrified at the thought of going back to school, going into hysterics every time they approach the school to drop off a sibling, and telling his mom he feels he’s “not special.”

His mother, who has taken her story nationwide, and even appeared on the CBS Morning Show, is considering her legal options in the case. She has filed a complaint with the school’s resource center for the treatment of her son, but strangely the district attorney’s office has claimed that the case did not meet the criteria of emotional abuse. No charges have been filed against Wendy Portillo.
Shockingly enough, Ms Portillo was not suspended immediately after the incident came to light. She has only now been reassigned while further a course of action is determined.

Melissa says that Alex has had disciplinary problems brought on by his condition. He is currently undergoing evaluation for autism, and the school district and the board have been aware of Alex’s condition. Even Wendy Portillo was present at the meetings and she was aware of Alex’s special needs.

As the mother of a differently abled child, Melissa was no doubt prepared for him to be treated differently at different stages in his life. Autistic children tend to have trouble expressing emotions, giving the impression they have none, which is not the case at all. But to experience such vicious behavior from a teacher in whose care you entrusted your child is inexcusable. No matter how many ways you try to look at Wendy Portillo’s side of things (who by the way, has not defended herself, and not even attempted to deny her behavior), there is simply no excuse for what one online publication accurately called “psychological lynching” of a child.

It’s strange that an incident like this, which would have been enough to scar an adult, is not being taken seriously enough to be considered emotional abuse. This is a five-year-old child. How much more abusive can you get than to round up all his classmates and have them call him names like “annoying“ and “disgusting” before finally voting him out of the class? It really begins to make you worry about our threshold for child abuse tolerance. It seems we’re just not willing to take the victim’s side here.

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One response to “Mother of Boy Voted Out of Class Considers Legal Action”

1. Ben from Baltimore writes:
   

   I have Tourette’s Syndrome, and when I hear about stories like this, I feel like wringing some necks and anybody who takes up for the teacher in this one is a million times more mental than the child with the disability. The teacher and the principal both need to be fired. The principal needs to be fired for allowing this type of stuff to go on. I was in regular classes throughout my K-12 school career and had graduated high school with a regular diploma just like the normal kids. I had volunteered to return to my high school as a coach of the Special Olympics high school basketball team after graduation. I am now an A+ certified PC technician running my own on call repair service through facebook. Man, I can’t stand these types of people.
   Ben

   @ May 30th, 2008 at 10:02