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Have you out there heard of Alex Barton?  If so, you are probably pretty outraged.  If you haven’t, then read this here article.  Personally, I am so pissed off at a lot of people right now.

Apparently taking a child to the front of the classroom and having all his classmates tell him what they don’t like about him and then voting him out of the classroom, that isn’t considered emotional abuse.  Let me tell you something.  Being in front of the class like that is fucking terrifying.  Then you add the horror of being called “disgusting” and “annoying” by your peers and THEN voted 14-2 to leave the classroom.  The teacher then sends you to spend the rest of the day in the nurse’s office.  No.  That wouldn’t bother anyone.

The Florida state attorney’s office doesn’t consider the situation endured by Alex Barton to fill the requirements for emotional child abuse.  Really?  What the fuck is emotional abuse then?  Being verbally abused by your friends and classmates in a public setting?  Being voted out of the classroom, denied your legal right and obligation to attend an education institution.  I’m sure that Alex didn’t consider that he was being denied an education by his own teacher, but that is still the case.

Then add the case that Alex was in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger’s.  I can’t really be sure whether or not Wendy Portillo (Alex’s teacher) knew of the possible diagnosis, but she should have known.  Though, regardless of whether the possible diagnosis was known, you do NOT treat a student like that.

The fact that Alex may have Asperger’s may be causing this issue being blown way up; however, I think this is a good thing.  There is no doubt in my mind that there are hundreds of kids who get mistreated like this every day.  The teacher gets protected by the school system, nothing happens, and the kid gets mistreated for the rest of the time spent under the teacher.  There needs to be a greater amount of scrutiny placed on teachers when dealing with children.  Bullshit like this needs to be made more public and the teacher needs to be fired.  Ms. Portillo was moved to a office position and hopefully there will be enough outrage to cause her to get flat out fired.

What is your take on this situation?