Teaching Profession

When Democracy Goes Wrong

By Christina A. Samuels — May 27, 2008 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Some stories don’t even need a comment: a Florida teacher faces legal action for allowing her students to vote a 5-year-old child with Asperger’s Syndrome of out the classroom.

After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said. By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex -- who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism -- out of the class.

Alex then spent the rest of the day in the nurse’s office. The school system says it is investigating the situation. I would hope so.

Charles Fox of the Special Education Law Blog also weighs in.

Related Tags:

A version of this news article first appeared in the On Special Education blog.