A Kindergarten Lesson in Meanness
Thursday, 29. May 2008, 09:00:00
I am outraged by what happened to special needs kindergartener, Alex Barton in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Strong disciplinary action should be taken against the teacher for having a survivor like situation in her classroom where she allowed the children to vote Alex out of the classroom. The teacher, Ms. Wendy Portillo had each child in her room tell Alex what they did not like about him. What in the world was Ms. Portillo thinking? What a lesson plan! What kind of education did she think was being provided through this survivor situation?
I know mainstreaming special needs children in a childcare and public schools do not always work out. Teachers are expected to maintain school standards for all the children while dealing with the situation of a special needs child in the class. It can be very frustrating for the teacher, especially if he/she is not getting any support from directors and principals who might have the “just do your job” attitude and most likely they have never had to deal with a special needs child in the classroom. It appears Ms. Portillo did not have an assistant. There should have been at least one support staff person in that classroom. Obviously Ms. Portillo was frustrated, but even in her frustration, what she did was unconscionable.
My situation was a little different, but while as a lead childcare teacher of a toddler classroom, I had 2 special needs children for about a year. One could not walk and was deaf and stayed in my classroom a little after his 3rd birthday. The other child had Down syndrome and was not talking. He stayed in the class a little passed his 4th birthday. He liked to pull a lot of hair and throw all kinds toys. They helped make a class size of 25 children with 4 teachers. The combined class of 1 and 2 years old was over ratio, but the physical size of the classroom provided a technicality for allowing so many toddlers in a classroom. When staff was out and/or taking benefit days, replacements were provided about third of the time.
When I went to the center directors to request a stay of classroom increase or to give me more staff, I was told that mainstreaming laws did not require what I requested and that I had to deal with the situation as is (my classroom size did increased without additional staff). That was frustrating, but my teachers and I loved our 2 children with special needs. I did request the directors to move the one child that had turned 4 in my classroom along with his mother. We both thought he should be with preschoolers and not toddlers.
Getting back to Ms. Portillo, she does not think she did anything wrong. Read, view videos, and read the strong comments about this incident here and here. If you think Ms. Portillo should face some kind of disciplinary action and/or think teachers in that situation need support staff in the classroom, go here and scroll down the post to the email links to tell Port St. Lucie school officials. Well this is the last post for this month. See You in June.
WIDGETIZE