Teacher reinstated after allowing students to vote out autistic child (video)

Jun 11, 2009

The school board in St. Lucie County, Florida decided to reinstate suspended teacher Wendy Portillo. She was suspended for allowing her kindergarten students to vote to kick out a five-year-old autistic student out of her classroom. She asked her class to take a vote when the boy was apparently acting out and the class decided to send him out of the room.

The boy had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. Portillo got a year of unpaid suspension and was told she wouldn’t get to keep her tenure. But, the St. Lucie school board has decided Portillo will get to keep her tenure of twelve years.

The boy’s mother was outraged at the school board’s reversal.

“This will affect my son for the rest of his life,” said the boy’s mother Melissa Barton.

“I have missed being in the classroom,” Portillo said. “I think this is a positive step not only just for me, but for all teachers in St. Lucie County.”

Portillo’s suspension ends in November.