I meant to write a post about this story, but it slipped through my fingers. I’m very glad that Joanne Jacobs picked it up.
In Port Lucie, Florida, Wendy Portillo told kindergarteners to tell five-year-old Alex Barton why they didn’t want him in class. After telling him that he is “disgusting” and “annoying,” the children voted on whether he could remain in class. Alex’s best friend, who’d wanted to keep him, changed his vote when the teacher pressured him. Alex was voted out 14-2.
Alex’s sin that day was lying under a table and kicking it. He also was known for throwing and eating crayons, eating boogers, eating paper and chewing on shoelaces.
The kid is on the autistic spectrum. Yeah, he probably was a pain and needed an aide, but you don’t need an education degree to know that the teacher didn’t handle this situation deftly.
Joanne says that these situations are happening more often, as the mainstream movement is putting special needs kids in the classroom with untrained teachers and few support systems. The answer, she says, is better training for teachers and more in-class aides.
Increasing services for public education? I’m enjoying the lefty infiltration of Pajamas Media.
I’m not sure that teacher cruelty is isolated to the special needs kids. Last year, Jonah’s second grade teacher told his class that no one was going to graduate to third grade, because they did so badly on a math test.
Apt. 11d 
Teacher cruelty is certainly nothing new, but encouraging the other kids in the class to participate in that cruelty? Unforgiveable.
LikeLike
Slate has the document from the inquest into the incident: http://www.slate.com/id/2192480/entry/0/
What else to say? That the teacher behaved like a Major League €%&#!§ (to quote George W. Bush) is beyond question but as a political scientist I wonder what kind of dynamic between parents, school management and teacher we are dealing with.
I don’t recall all of the details from the report (and I’m a bit too tired to re-read it now), but I remember getting the impression that there could be an earlier conflict between the “teacher” and the school management over the boy.
LikeLike
Reading the transcript also brings up the point that they were “voting” on whether he return at that moment, not on whether he should be a part of their kindergarten class. They weren’t voting him off the island, they were voting him a time out.
Mind you, I can’t defend the whole voting concept, but looking at the situation as an experiment (instead of a real life tragedy), I can kind of see the steps where things are going wrong.
First, the teacher was playing through a “montessori-esque” exercise where kids learn to behave correctly because of empathy and understanding, and having the kids talk about how A-‘s behavior was affecting them. I use that same basic idea with my own kids “how would you feel if your sister hit you? How does your sister feel about it.” It’s a part of the “I feel” movement of getting people to understand each other. Now, I think it failed abysmally here, because A- appears to have a disability, one that seems impervious to that particular technique, because the teacher implemented the technique badly, and because the five-year-olds really can’t always get it, and should just be told what to do, even if they can’t understand why they should (i.e. say please and thank you).
Second, I don’t think the kids should be involved in the decision making about another classmate. It’s where the teaching empathy becomes something else (i.e. peer pressure, bullying, etc.). My kids get very very involved with this, and I have to keep telling them that they are not in charge of each other (one doesn’t get to tell me when the other gets a time out, even if they *correctly* recognize a rule violation had occurred).
Second, teachers who teach kids who need “extra” help need “extra” support, and they often don’t get it. The support is even more important when without the extra help, the child is disruptive not just to their own education, but also the education of the other students. Without it, when a child has disruptive behavior issues, the whole class falls apart. In the transcript, the teacher points out that other children are adapting A-‘s behaviors. A- might be incapable of suppressing them, and need support, but there are plenty of other children who will take on those behaviors if they think it gets them something.
This no man’s land, where children with strong needs are included without sufficient support is enormously disruptive to public education in general. It drives out teachers (who can’t do their job), and it drives out parents (who decide they want an environment free of the impact of the behavior problems). And, unfortunately, it seems like where we’re heading, with everyone just sticking their fingers in their ears and humming (except the teachers, who have to deal with it) until something ugly happens, like this.
LikeLike
I found it interesting that, in reading the transcript, the teacher freely talked about what had occurred. She did not view this as something she needed to cover up.
I found it just as interesting that, according to the security guard’s report, another parent had reported the incident to Child & Family Services, albeit anonymously.
What can I say? I find it really hard to criticize teachers who put up with so much crap, and so few resources, and still make it work. The legal issues surrounding IEPs, mainstreaming, NCLB, it all combines with limited resources to make a train-wreck-in-waiting. I read the entire report and did not sense any malice on the teacher’s part, but more utter frustration. I’m not saying that makes it OK, but I am saying I tend to question why she was getting so little support, vs. arguing to string her up.
My final comment is that I can’t even imagine how long it will take this kid to recover. I still remember very small slights from 3rd grade. Something this big, this public? And semi-sanctioned by an adult? I cannot even imagine. If it were my family, we’d be moving for sure.
LikeLike
If your readers would like to see what parents of children with autism think, or adults with autism, Maddy at Whitterer on Autism has a blogroll of reactions to Alex Barton’s experiences in the classroom. Scroll down to the bottom of the post.
LikeLike
Rereading my post, I don’t I conveyed how upset I was by this story.
Thanks for all the links, Liz.
In the best of circumstances, this sounds like a terrible way to teach empathy to kids. Putting one kid in the front of the room and having him judges by his peers is a TERRIBLE thing to do to a kid. Nevermind a kid who is not responsible for his actions and cannot comprehend empathy.
I think that the empathy lesson should be aimed at the teacher and his fellow students. The students and teacher should be made to understand that when special needs kids have melt downs, it isn’t because they are bad. It’s because something invisible is bugging them. Some people have a more difficult road to travel than others. And, yes, people who are privileged enough to have a fully functional nervous system have to just deal with it. Their needs might even have to take a small backseat to those with special needs. Just as the best parking space goes to the physically handicapped, sometimes a teacher has to spend a few more moments with the autistic child than the rest of the class.
In most cases, when special needs kids are put in classrooms, the teachers get a class reduction as a result. A lot of teachers don’t make the connection that since they have less papers to grade, then they have to spend MORE time with the special needs kids.
My sympathies don’t run that deep here.
LikeLike
Meanwhile back in Oz:
LikeLike
Lefty infiltration at Pajamas? Not really. We’ve always been open to all points of view, it’s just a question of who is willing to write for you…
We’ve run Jeralyn Merritt from TalkLeft, we’re about to publish a piece by Taylor Marsh…Joanne, you, Dawn Friedman, Ruben Navarrette on immigration. All you need is a thick skin or a willingness not to read comments.
LikeLike
I was just teasing, Allison.
LikeLike
I hope that no TV executive is reading about this incident and thinking “new reality TV show.”
LikeLike
isn’t there something like that, already? I vaguely remember flashing past a she where kids were hanging off ropes in wet rain, while bumping each other. I totally thought it was child abuse. They were teens, not five year olds but it was ugly.
LikeLike
Other commenters have already said everything I’d say about how despicable this teacher’s actions were, so I’ll just add this . . . I’m fascinated by the fact that there were two *kindergartners* who resisted the pressure here. I’d like to interview those two kids.
LikeLike
My sister Christina had huge problems the first few grades because she was so ahead of everyone else intellectually that she was constantly bored out of her skull. Having the maturity of a little kid meant expressing this in rather messy ways, like the time she glued sheets of paper all over her desk.
Most teachers don’t have the time or energy or training to deal with kids with unusual needs, whether they are too smart or have learning disabilities or autism or whatever. And they almost never handle kids with behavior issues well.
Oh yes, Christina could already read in kindergarden, but the teacher and the principal both refused to believe it EVEN WHEN SHE READ FOR THEM.
But even with all of Christina’s issues, they never did anything THAT awful.
LikeLike