The A+ Activist

I’m not sure if I should be appalled, sick, disgusted or down right lit up like a raging fire… either way when I read this story out of CBS about the little boy who was voted out of Kindergarten because he was “different”, well it didn’t take long for my mommy radar to go off the charts!

I’m torn, one side of me wants to be diplomatic and say, “Well the teacher obviously didn’t have the resources to handle a child with special needs.” You’ve heard me go on and on about budget cuts and the lack of funding for schools and teachers. If a teacher wants to learn more about how to properly educate and work with special needs children, they often have to pay for it themselves because the money from the schools to fund it simply isn’t there and That. IS. SAD.

Another rational side wants to say, ” The school should have worked with the family, teacher and the child to come to an agreement or alternative learning environment for this child.” There are certain avenues that have to be taken in order to have a child removed from a classroom. Plus, I can certainly understand the need to be able to properly teach the other students BUT… Unfortunately for the teacher… the MOM and ACTIVIST in me says…

This teacher used the poorest judgment imaginable. She behaved no better than the five and six year old students she was teaching. Not only did Wendy Portillo (the teacher in question), humiliate, bully, and send the message that if you’re different from everyone else, then we can get rid of you… But what’s worse is that she just taught a room full of young impressionable children that it’s certainly OK to discriminate. Ms. Portillo knew the boy was being evaluated, was even working with the school and the parent to get him properly diagnosed, but clearly that wasn’t enough for her.
Want to hear the really fun part? The state attorney’s office says this isn’t emotional abuse.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

The whole situation is unprofessional on so many levels. Ms. Portillo is the adult in this situation and conducting a poll of children in which it’s not only OK for you to say you don’t want a kid in your class but it’s also OK to tell why you don’t like the kid in the first place.

The little boy is being evaluated for Asperger’s which is a form of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Now for those of you not familiar with Autism you can learn more about it here and here . I, myself will admit to not knowing much about the illness but I can tell you that it has varrying degrees of severity and also manifests itself in different ways. Some children are fully functional in a classroom, some are partially, with the help of an aide and others cannot function at all. Either way, the teacher involved does not get to be judge and jury alone about whether or not a child being evaluated for Asperger’s or Autism should or should not be in her classroom. There are rules, protocols and other people in the decision making process, not her and 16 or so five and six year olds.

I also have to question what else Wendy Portillo has taught these youngsters with her crash course in democracy. In an age where we are trying desperately to get rid of discrimination in all forms, she just opened the door for any child to “poll” out every kid they have a problem with, doesn’t like or even smells funny… and because she did it, they will expect to do it and have it be OK too.

Ms. Portillo is the adult in this situation and her behavior was anything BUT adult-like and that is what saddens me.

She is an educator. She is expected to educate the children and teach them right from wrong, to be tolerant of those different from us and have acceptance for people. Unfortunately, for the children in her classroom at Morningside Elementary in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Wendy Portillo was absent the day they went over that in College.

I don’t want anyone to misunderstand; I firmly believe that the other children have a right to a positive learning environment but how positive is your environment when the teacher allows you talk down and negatively to another student? What do you think the children learned that day? It sure wasn’t shapes, colors, sentence structure, or the life cycle of a butterfly, that’s for sure.

Luckily, she’s been moved out of the classroom while this is being investigated (here’s hoping she’s moved out of a teaching license as well). But if you would like to read more about Portillo’s rendition of Survivor - Kindergarten style and also her allegations of what finally led her to create the worst moment in teaching history (among other things), then check out Thinking in Metaphors , the author has some excellent information and advocacy for Autism as well as comments from the boy’s mom and updates.

It’s a shame Ms. Portillo didn’t remember that SHE is the adult, not one of the children and is expected to behave as such.

How would she feel if the tables were turned? Feel free to cast a “vote”!

I read something disturbing this morning. Normally this wouldn’t bother me too much because I beleive in getting the best education possible for my children. That’s why I became a blogger for today.com. I want to help parents navigate and learn that they can be excellent activists for their children.

A mom was frustrated over an incident at school and instead of getting feedback from one mom, the woman suggested she simply pull her child from the school and begin homeschooling. Simple enough comment right? Well… not really, to me anyway.

It wasn’t that simple of a statement in my opinion. As an activist to create better schools, I don’t feel that pulling your child out of school and beginning a whole different way of learning is the answer. Before I end up with hate mail, let me just say that I am not against homeschooling. I think that it can work very well if approached correctly. However, I think that parents need to weigh the reasons for homeschooling along with the pros and cons.

The ideal school setting would have children learning and growing in an environment that is supportive of their needs - but sometimes, even the well placed systems fail the children. That is why parents need to be the activists.

It is a personal belief of mine that YOU have the ability to change the way schools work. You have the ability to change policies and yes, sometimes we need to make a stink and be a pain to the administrations and districts but that is how they learn there is a problem. If everyone sat idly by and did nothing then school districts and the administrators would never know parents are concerned. We have the power to hold them accountable for operating a school that meets the needs of every student.

Now in the case of the mom who was frustrated, it was a playground issue. My advice to her would have been if the principal or teachers are uncooperative then yes, it is time to go above their heads (which I will be talking about more in the next few weeks). There are more solutions than taking your child out of school. I’m not saying that sometimes that isn’t necessary but if there is a chance that you can work it out, I say do it!