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..
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."
This shit is what happens when a teacher has to have sex with a child to be fired. This shit just doesn't come out of the blue, she has have a history of bullying students yet she is still a teacher. When are the school systems in this country going to learn to get rid of the bad teachers?
Florida,Florida stupidity, school, teacher, teachers, autism, Asperger syndrome
The teacher was clearly wrong to subject this child to this humiliation. He will bear this scar for the rest of his life and she should pay for her mistake, at the very least her teaching credentials should be revoked and she should never again be allowed to work in a school.
That said, the parents also deserves a big share of the blame. Why was this child in that class to start with? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (which his parents are clearly not) to see that any 5-year old with numerous visits to the principals office has a problem. Sorry, but 5-year olds rarely visit the principal. The parents need to wake up and provide the care their child needs
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[...] (minus May and September due to unusually high number of views in those months due to two posts (5 year old voted out of class (someone linked to that post in a post at a forum with allot of members) and Large Hadron Collider [...]