Five Year old Alex Barton (photograph left) was bullied in a Saint Lucie County Florida Elementry School by his teacher – who also encouraged his peers to do it as well. Alex is currently undergoing evaluation for Aspergers Syndrome, a form of Autism.
After some behaviors which can be easily attributed to Aspergers Syndrome the teacher allowed every student in the class to say one thing they did not like about him – and then had the students ‘vote’ Alex out of the class in a reality television like episode. Read more for the complete news story – and how you can contact the St Lucie County Schools Administration.
From TCPalm: PORT ST. LUCIE — Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son’s kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.
After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn’t like about Barton’s 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.
By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex — who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism — out of the class.
Melissa Barton filed a complaint with Morningside’s school resource officer, who investigated the matter, Port St. Lucie Department spokeswoman Michelle Steele said. But the state attorney’s office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed, Steele said.
Port St. Lucie Police no longer are investigating, but police officials are documenting the complaint, she said.
Steele said the teacher confirmed the incident took place.
Portillo could not be reached for comment Friday.
Steele said the boy had been sent to the principal’s office because of disciplinary issues. When he returned, Portillo made him go to the front of the room as a form of punishment, she said.
Barton said her son is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex began the testing process in February at the suggestion of Morningside Principal Marcia Cully.
Children diagnosed with Asperger’s often exhibit social isolation and eccentric behavior..
Alex has had disciplinary issues because of his disability, Barton said. After the family moved into the area and Alex and his sibling arrived at the school in January, Alex spent much of the time in the principal’s office, she said.
He also had problems at his last school, but he did not have issues during his two years of preschool, Barton said.
School and district officials have met with Barton and her son to create an individual education plan to address his difficulties, she said. Portillo attended these meetings, Barton said.
Barton said after the vote, Portillo asked Alex how he felt.
“He said, ‘I feel sad,’ ” Barton said.
Alex left the classroom and spent the rest of the day in the nurse’s office, she said.
Barton said when she came to pick up her son at the school Wednesday, he was leaving the nurse’s office.
“He was shaken up,” she said.
Barton said the nurse told her to talk with Portillo, who told her what happened.
Alex hasn’t been back to school since then, and Barton said he won’t be returning. He starts screaming when she brings him with her to drop off his sibling at school.
Thursday night, his mother heard him saying “I’m not special” over and over.
Barton said Alex is reliving the incident.
The other students said he was “disgusting” and “annoying,” Barton said.
“He was incredibly upset,” Barton said. “The only friend he has ever made in his life was forced to do this.”
St. Lucie School’s spokeswoman Janice Karst said the district is investigating the incident, but could not make any further comment.
Vern Melvin, Department of Children and Families circuit administrator, confirmed the agency is investigating an allegation of abuse at Morningside but said he could not elaborate.
To make your voice heard on this matter here are some phone numbers, addresses and emails.
Morningside Elementary School Principal:
Mrs. Marcia Cully
cullym@stlucie.k12.fl.us
(772) 337-6730
St. Lucie County Schools Superintendent:
Michael J. Lannon
4204 Okeechobee Road
Ft. Pierce, FL 34947-5414
Phone: 772/429-3925
FAX: 772/429-3916
lannonm@stlucie.k12.fl.us
St. Lucie County School Board Chair:
Carol Hilson
772-519-0397
hilsonc@stlucie.k12.fl.us
Vice Chair:
Judith Miller
772-528-4545
millerj@stlucie.k12.fl.us
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
poor kid :/
thats horible and shouldnt happen to anyone
Oh, the poor kid. I can understand how he feels because a similar situation happened to me, but thankfully, I was nearly thrice as old as Alex was. I am very mistaken if this situation turns out to have had a positive effect on his mental health. I wish I knew his address. Then I could rally up a bunch of people to write him encouraging letters to lift his spirits.
I found an e-mail address that people can write to if they support Alex’s cause: supportalex@treasurecoast.com. I want to write a letter to Alex at that e-mail address.
That happened to me a few times at my Secondary School. Teachers (and the occasional Teaching Assistant) thought i was constant trouble. After the 6th time that happened, i flipped a 90lb table onto the floor. They stopped soon after that. Of course, they suspended me for that.
That is absolutely appalling behaviour; and I’m talking about the teacher, just in case anyone had any doubts!
NO child should be singled out like that, EVER, under ANY circumstances.
Discipline, if appropriate, should be done as a private matter between child, teacher(s) and parent(s).
To be singled out like that and treated in such a horrific manner, and by the one person in the classroom who they should be able to trust to protect them, would be damaging to ANY child, let alone an autistic one; and would only serve to exacerbate any behavioural problems – in ANY child.
Such treatment must be extremely psychologically damaging to a child; with particular regard to their self esteem, and their perception of and trust in authority figures. And this psychological damage is, in the long term, likely to cause behavioural problems far greater than the one it was a very misguided attempt to solve.
Even if a child’s behaviour did ‘improve’ in the short term, as a result of such cruelty, it would be for totally the wrong reasons (i.e. terror), and as a result behaviour problems would no-doubt resurface at a later date as a far more serious and deep-rooted problem; which could have been avoided by dealing appropriately in the first place with what was a fairly minor problem.
I just cannot believe that ANYONE could even think of treating a child in such a manner – that such a concept would even cross their mind.
What kind of mind must a person have to even dream up such an appalling concept in the first place; let alone actually go through with it.
I wouldn’t even allow such a person to be left alone with children, let alone be employed to teach them. I shudder to think just WHAT this person must be teaching them.
This teacher should be made an expample of not the child. I have seen over many years that it is always the childs fault never the adults. Open your eyes an autistic kid cannot lie!!!!!!!!!!
My 5 year old grandson has been diagnosed with aspergers. He is extremely smart, but has the social problem and hits the children who are close by to him. In addition, he has a sharing problem and wants to do what he wants to do. The teacher has moved him to the front of the class right next to her desk and I think that must be embarrassing to James my grandson who is actually a very loving child. It breaks my heart to see him struggling this way so I understand the problem of this little boy in Florida. Teachers and scholars need to be made more aware of how to deal with these problems. What we do to these children at this age can have long range effects and we cannot let this happen.
I cannot believe a TEACHER would do this to an autistic child. My teachers, except for a really bad first grade teacher, never did anything like this, but they never stopped the kids from picking on me. Ridiculing an autistic child has to be repudiated from our society. These kinds of stories are just becoming redundant. It is foolish that a teacher can have so much avarice as to attack an autistic child just because she can. This is unfair and demeaning. Actions like this has got to be relinquished from today’s society. I myself am a 15 year old with Asperger’s Syndrome so I know this feeling.
That is the kind of action that a teacher should be terminated for. HOWEVER, a parent also can not expect a seriously autistic kid to blend in to a regular class with no problem. The behavior these kids exhibit generally is very immature compared to kids of the same age group. The distracting behavior IS detrimental to the learning environment. The same thing has been happening for years in South Florida. The kids who came here in the 80’s and 90’s not knowing English in ALL the grade levels had the same results. So in essence, the expectations for learning had to be decreased to accommodate the influx of Cuban, Haitian, Central and South Americans during these times. The rest of us suffered a pretty lousy education because of it. Save your hate mail for some one else, because this is the truth.