Teacher Wins Back Tenure After Class Votes Out Boy With Autism
By Shaun HeasleyA Florida teacher who encouraged her kindergarten students to vote on whether or not a student with autism should remain in her classroom will keep her tenure after winning an appeal.
In May 2008 Wendy Portillo’s kindergarten students voted 5-year old Alex Barton, who has autism, out of their classroom after the boy exhibited behavior problems. As a result, Portillo was suspended from teaching for one year without pay and her tenure was revoked.
However, Portillo appealed and the St. Lucie County School Board decided Wednesday to affirm her suspension, which lasts until November, but reinstate Portillo’s tenure upon her return. Portillo is guaranteed a teaching position with the school district at the end of her suspension, reports WPTV, the West Palm Beach, Fla. NBC affiliate.
————
Previous stories on this topic:
Appeal Denied For Teacher Whose Class Voted Out Boy With Autism (March 31, 2009)
Teacher Appeals Suspension After Class Votes Out Student With Autism (February 4, 2009)
Copyright © 2009 Disability Scoop, LLC. All Rights Reserved. For reprints and permissions click here.
I must say that I am disappointed in the decision of the St. Luci Country School Board. I believe the teacher in question should be allowed to return to her job in November (after her suspension is over) but on a probationary basis. She should not receive her tenure without proving her worth. This is just one of many reasons why students with disabilities that are no apparent on the surface end up dropping out of school. Everyone deserves a second chance, but they must work for it and show improvement in judgement. What exactly was she teaching these children by voting out a 5 year old?
She was unemployed for a year. That is a huge punishment. She deserved it.
Tenure only comes after a substantial amount of work and often a lot of conformity, fake smiles, overlooking ethics violations in those who are in power, and, often, kissing up to administrators. She does not deserve to lose her tenure. That would make her vulnerable to firing for no reason at all–like a principal who did not want white people working at her all black school did to me.
She is probably a pretty good teacher, but she made a bad mistake. I hope she was also required to take some special education methods and special needs behavior management courses. All regular teachers should be required to. I would have held her to a higher standard if she was a special education teacher because if she was she would have known better. We have to be smart and well educated to do special ed. properly. But a regular teacher does not have our background or training. They are generalists. Autistics are difficult even for special education teachers. Some us have the gift for working with them and some don’t. For that reason inclusion should be done carefully. When I read the original article I read that he was still being evaluated for autism, so the environment and structure (His Least Restrictive Environment) he needed was not in place. The teacher was out of field.
Therefore, this time I would give her back her tenure. However, if she is ever mean to a student again, especially if she applies peer pressure in an inappropriate way, she should lose both her job and her certificate.
Before a child can be move from one class setting to a more restrictive setting, the school has to first use their resources including an aide. Whether a student remain in a class or not should be based on the students needs, not a popularity contest. Disabled individuals are usually discriminated against when they enter into the mainstream of any community. Any adult working with a disabled individual, especially in a teaching role, has a duty to teach the non disabled students to include the disabled student in the classroom. This is what IDEA. 504. and ADA is trying to stress. To have a popularity contest, by having the student vote whether a disabled student remain in call is teaching discrimination against a person who is different. A person who has a disability is not having that disability by choice. Should that teacher be fired…no…I thing she needs to be educated.
Ms. Portillo should be fired. If she was allowed back into my school as an administrator, I would be on her like a hawk. As an educator, she is pathetic. Smiling in the video like she was redeemed. As a human, she is a heartless coward. Treating a 5 year old like that due to her own inadequate skills of coping. Having had students cuss, spit, and swing at me, I know the temptation to de-humanize them. But, I don’t, because they deserve dignity as all people do. What a disgusting waste of tax-payer dollars to keep her and even worse to give her the tenure back. Fire her on the spot.
Post a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment. Click here to log in or register.
Recent Stories
Most Commented
Most Viewed