Arctic Chicken’s Weblog

Kindergartner Voted Out By Students
Outraged Mom Of Special Needs Son Talks Exclusively With The Early Show
CBS News
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., May 27, 2008

(CBS) A Port St. Lucie, Fla., mother is outraged and considering legal action after her son’s kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.

Melissa Barton says Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo had her son’s classmates say what they didn’t like about 5-year-old Alex. She says the teacher then had the students vote, and voted Alex, who is being evaluated for Asperger’s syndrome — an autism spectrum disorder — out of the class by a 14-2 margin.

Barton and her son, Alex, talked exclusively with Harry Smith live from West Palm Beach, Fla.

Click on the video below to watch the interview.

Full Article

Meet Wendy Portillo. She told her side of the story and confirms what has happened.
Portillo’s Side

From the blogs and comments I have read, she is right now the most hated person besides Lori Drew, Fred Phelps, OJ Simpson, and John Walker Lindh. Well, she deserves that title. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for corporal punishment, but this not how you punishment. Even back than, they just whacked you with a ruler and it happened to many students, not just one. It was equal opportunity. To make matters worse, she got other children to get involved, which is plain wrong. Telling kids to hate another kid is just wrong, especially from an adult.

Yes, I know children can be a real handful. Even when I was a kid, this type of thing of what she did never happened. Children need discipline, but not by humiliation and getting other children involved. Children like Alex Barton are going to do what children do. It does not matter if it has to do with autism or not. Some autistic people are really noisy, while others are quiet.

From the reports I have read, her brother was a firefighter and died on September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center was attacked and destroyed. Personally, that is irrelavant to me and I am sure her brother would be upset over this. Frankly, I can care less about her situation. 3,000 other people died, including 343 New York Firefighters on that horrible day. Think about all the untold numbers who lost loved ones or knew someone who died that day.