[mrsD]

This is just the worst thing I have seen in a LONG time...

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/...er-5-year-old/
and this followup:
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/...worldwide-hed/
We've been discussing it here at home, and it just blows my mind that a
teacher would have a whole class do this, and oust a boy from the class.

Another link:
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/modu....php?itemid=28

To think that 5 yr olds should have this power or learn to be this unfeeling?

Personally I think this "teacher" should be removed.

[Kitty]

What on earth was that teacher thinking? How cruel to do to anyone.....but a 5 year old child????

She needs to be removed from the classroom and undergo extensive sensitivity training.

It will be interesting to see what punishment she receives.

[jmiller]

I will tell you what will happen to her, absolutely nothing. Thats our Florida for you.

Bring that teAcher to my house, I have plenty of duct tape for her.

[ewizabeth]

I just emailed his Mom, God bless them both. I can relate to this having had a child with ADD and a high IQ. My son was lucky enough that most of his teachers were able to keep him busy in the classroom when he got ahead of the other kids on whatever they were studying (which was most of the time).

I agree, they probably won't do anything to the teacher. Maybe this will be a lesson to her, at least I hope so.

[weegot5kiz]

unbelievable, she should have her license to teach revoked, if this is allowed whats next kids with green eyes

[mrsD]

I was curious...

http://www.muninetguide.com/states/f...St___Lucie.php

Looks pretty upscale to me! And does not look like a diverse community either.

We were talking today about what some schools do to discipline teachers.
I don't have a clue about this location in Florida...but I was surprised to learn
that they are in some localities put in a "detention" room... but they still
earn their salary. They sit there all day, making money doing nothing.
Because of the "union" status, etc.

I like the duct tape punishment ....clever. Tar and feathers have been suggested also on the net. (joking)
What it appears to me....is that this selfish teacher, enlisted the rest of the class to
oust a student she was frustrated with and didn't like. Rather than being an adult and rising
to the challenge...she TAUGHT her other 5 yr old students to do it for her.
Humiliation is one thing....passing this buck to very young children who need to learn
empathy and compassion, but instead are encouraged to be judgemental...well that is a huge
awful lesson!

[misshayleesmom]

I think its horrible!!!

That's exactly why i removed my dd from school for this year.
Her teacher would center her out to the other kids and not include her in things.

DD just wanted to fit in with the kids.

Some teachers don't have the patience to deal with special needs kids.
That's why i think that there should be two teachers in a class so that they can help the child without distrupting the other children.
But that will never happen because school boards can't afford it.

When dd would have her "meltdowns" in class the other kids would cover their ears and say "there she goes again..."


I hope this teacher loses her license .... she should NOT be teaching.

[weegot5kiz]

i have absolutely no problem with putting folks in public stocks, think about it for something like this
A. she wont do it again
B. some others will think twice b4 they do it too

i have no problem with the scarlet A approach, tar and feather how ever tempting it sounds might be a bit drastic, something must be done what she did can damage that child for life, she scarred that child, she should pay some form of punishment, debs youngest is higher functioning autism and its a pain sometimes, we agree on that but to lash out or humilate him makes him crawl deep inside and it takes forever for him to come out, we had a few things happen at school with him and other kids and ONE (i use this word loosely) teacher

[Koala77]

This was televised on TV in my town here in Australia as well, and they likened this woman to American Idol/Australian Idol judges, or those on the show Survivor. I wonder if she's been watching too much television.

One wonders if this is the first rotten thing that's she's done, or whether other unmentionables have occurred before and this was the first time she'd been caught out.

I find it hard to believe that a teacher would suddenly change and then do something like this. I may of course be being a little harsh.

[MelodyL]

Well, being the mother of a person who has been diagnosed with Aspergers, well I guess I could put my two cents in.

Was the teacher wrong? Absolutely!! Her methods were despicable. She is a trained professional who should know better, and the fact that she has the little souls of 5 year old children, in her hands, day after day, and that she felt she had the right to take a 5 year old, march him to the front of the class and have the others vote on this, well, this teacher obviously should NOT be teaching any 5 year old children. There are matters of self esteem here that have to be addressed.

There is also the matter of allowing other 5 year olds to decide who stays in class or who does not stay in class. This was a very bad choice made by this teacher. Very unprofessional of her.

NOW LET ME GET TO HER SIDE OF THE STORY, Which probably has not even been addressed yet because I haven't read one single thing that can be attributed to the teacher.

My son was EXACTLY like the little 5 year old. My son actually failed kindergarten. Imagine, failing kindergarten. Back in that time, no one ever heard of aspergers. And this was public school.

Aspergers kids have horrible behavior problems, (not all, but many many do). The temper tantrums, the lack of impulse control, etc. etc, well it makes for one hellish day in the day of a teacher trying to teach 30 other students. I once had a teacher tell me 'How can I teach all the others, when my main concern is your son's behavior"?? "It's not fair to the other students".

Of course my son's teacher never made him march up to the class nor did she have the others vote him out of the class. My son was suspended from kindergarten. What was the first clue??

The first day of kindergarten, the teacher gathered all the kids around and said "Sit down children, we are going to have storytime now, so please be seated, be quiet, and I'll open the book".

My son took one look at her and said "Get Real, I want to play with the blocks".

He did this kind of behavior over and over for a few months, until the teacher couldn't take it anymore. He was then put in special education classes.

For children with behavior problems. His intelligence was off the chart, that's how bright he was. You just couldn't say no to him.

Obviously if someone had told us about aspergers 20 years ago, maybe I would still have my son in my life today, but that was not the case back in the day.

If a kid disrespected the teacher, and the teacher had to put all her attention on one kid, the other kids suffered. I suspect this might be in play here.

Of course the teacher was wrong. You would think that because we now know about autism spectrum disorders, and aspergers, that teachers migh be better trained to spot this type of behavior. We don't even know if she was. The fact that the mother was in the process of getting the kid diagnosed, well BELIEVE ME, THERE WERE CLUES IN HIS BEHAVIOR.

Hopefully, (because they have asperger schools, and various programs, that these kids are being helped and better equipped to socialize as they mature.

I believe this teacher was just at her wits end with the kid's behavior (I know because I have had many teachers tell me this, way back then. It's not easy to have these type of kids in the classroom. This was not a special ed classroom.

This is a story in progress. The kid has now been diagnosed, the teacher, well I don't know what will happen to the teacher. She will probably get a slap on the wrist, and be transferred to another school.

In my honest opinion, teachers (especially those who teach kindergarten and first grade), should be made aware of certain behaviors and if that behavior continues, then the teacher should speak to the parents (that might have happened in this case, no one knows yet).

More and more youngsters are being diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (I believe it's now 1 in 150). That's an awful lot of children to be diagnosed.

I hope this particular teacher gets the help she needs. Her career can go down the tubes over this one incident. They are probably looking into other cases (she might have done this before).

She is hurting not only the 5 year old, but the other classmates. She taught them to be judgemental bullies. There had to be better ways of handling this particular situation.

Just my two cents.