Kindergartner Voted out of Class

May 27, 3:52 PMFatherhood ExaminerJoe Schatz

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What does a teacher need to do to get fired these days?  Well let’s hope this teacher gets the boot.  In Port St. Lucie, Florida a kindergarten class, under the direction of their teacher, voted to kick a boy out of their class.  Alex Barton was voted out of the class by a margin of 14-2.  The reasons cited for voting Alex out of the class ranged from the fact that he was “annoying” to "disgusting."

First, kindergarteners shouldn’t be doing a Survivor style vote, and, second, Alex may have a form of autism.  His parents say Alex is currently in the evaluation process and may very well have Asperger’s.  Can anyone say "lawsuit?" 

Asperger’s Syndrome is a form of autism, a high-functioning form, but a form nonetheless that would make Alex react differently than the average child in social settings.  So what better way to initiate him into our society than vote the poor kid out of his kindergarten class? 

This just sucks.  I'm not sure how those involved in the special-ed department couldn’t be at fault here as well.  The special-ed staff are the ones that monitor his IEP (individual education plan) and they should have mentioned to the teacher that singling him out socially was a ‘bad idea.’   They also should have told the teacher, “Oh, don’t go and do anything stupid like vote him out of the class.  K?  Thanks!”  Totally.  Here are some other bad ideas.

What happened to Alex after he was voted out of the class?  Well, he spent the rest of the day in the nurse’s office and he hasn’t been back to school since.  Apparently, he screams at the prospect of returning to the place.   Go figure.   

Do you need reasons to fire the teacher? Alright:

•  To inflict some retribution – You humiliated a kid, so let’s humiliate you.

• Send a message – Let the other teachers know that doing something this stupid isn’t tolerated, or else the next teacher may make a blind student walk into the teachers’ lounge to get the coffee pot.
• Show them who is the real learning disabled individual – Asperger kids have it tough and get picked on but in spite of all that, Alex should be proud he's nowhere near as socially inept as this dolt.
• It’s the right thing to do – if you combine all the answers above you can see that it just makes sense to can this misguided educator before they do more damage.

What do you think?  What should happen to the teacher?  If you were the parent in this situation what would you do?