Poor judgement and a deplorable lack of sensitivity.
May 28, 2008 - A teacher in South Florida was reassigned after allegedly allowing her students to vote, "Survivor"-style, as to whether or not to let a 5-year-old autistic student back in after he was sent to the principal's office.
By now, everyone knows the name of Wendy Portillo, 29. She was taken out of the classroom and reassigned. The school district is conducting an investigation and will have a report in two weeks.
The Times-Record (Wichita Falls, TX) editorialized (June 1) that her lack of concern for child should be a cause for dismissal.
Now he’s shadowed by the nightmare of having his classmates turn on him, at the encouragement of an educator.The state attorney's office declined to prosecute for "emotional child abuse." The newspaper thinks "the district should send this so-called educator quickly into another career path."
The election process wasn’t even by secret ballot.
Portillo allowed each child to say, in front of Alex, just what they didn’t like about him. Words like “disgusting” and “annoying” were offered.
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TT - If they dismiss the teacher, it will only be because of public pressure. There were, at last count, 152 stories on line. Teachers in Florida can't be fired for being convicted drug addicts or for having multiple DUI convictions, are acknowledged alcoholics, nor are they automatically fired for having sex with underage students even when the administration knows it is true. The teacher is given what amounts to a public benefit of doubt even when the student isn't afforded that kind of support. This is true in just about every state.
Tenure, archaic labor laws, labor unions, administrative courts, and the protections afforded by negotiated contracts pretty much dictate that no teacher will be terminated outright even if they don't teach, physically or sexually abuse children, or if a 48-year-old teacher has sex with 17-year-old student.
Some school districts do fire the educator anyway, but it is really a P.R. exercise to demonstrate that they are doing something. They know it is just a gesture because labor laws mean that the educator can appeal - endlessly. And at no cost to themselves. The union supplies lawyers who will challenge the issue to the state supreme court if necessary. (Especially if the educator is a union president.)
The teacher in South Florida serves as a good example of what's wrong in government schools. She obviously has no flair for education and ought to voluntarily find another job. She probably won't and it's unlikely that a district will get rid of her, short of offering her a full pension and five to ten years' salary to go away. Whether they offer the money in a lump sum or not, that's roughly what they'll pay anyway for the lengthy process involved in terminating a teacher when the teacher and their union opposes the action.
It will be interesting to see if the teacher gets gonged herself.
It's kind of a selective outrage, however, to speak about the classmates who turned on the boy at the encouragement of an educator - and that's using the word loosely - without wondering how a victim feels when an teacher or colleague sits behind a fellow teacher in a courtroom in full view of a student who has been victimized? Or, worse, testifies for a colleague?
The only time a 15-year-old cried in the courtroom was when she saw the teacher she was assigned to next year sitting in the court - behind the girl's victimizer. Even after conviction teachers, co-workers, and colleages write letters asking for leniency for the teacher. Colleagues and students in White Plains, NY, asked for leniency for a teacher convicted of possession of child pornography. A half dozen teachers and staff showed up for the sentencing. A supporter shouted, "We love you, Allen. Nothing has changed."
As educators, wouldn't you expect that they would write letters demanding the maximum sentence because the victims were children?
We aren't talking about the world's most sensitive human beings and that, sadly, is not unique to teaching. But, still, shouldn't we expect more? And the first ones who will tell you we should are the good teachers who see their profession demeaned by the actions of a few.
