The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time for you to go. (Trees And Things)

thefadd: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:40:24 EST

yeah, but Attention Plethora Disorder, whew, you better watch it, cause that goes away real fast.

JimmyHavok: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:08:23 EST

You still do.

No kidding. My girlfriend was trying to talk to me about some VERY important family issues last night, and I had to shut the computer off so I could listen to her.

PenitenziAgite: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:52:00 EST

You still do. Long-term studies are revealing that it never goes away. If your lucky, you can manage it.

JimmyHavok: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 00:25:33 EST

Oddly enough, I had ADD, but I preferred to sit and memorize standardized test questions over playing outside.

postillion: Re: the untrustworthy narrator

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 23:47:48 EST

There's a reason I was so relieved to go to college.

And adulthood friends: I gotta say it makes up for all the bad peer pressure moments of childhood.

This teacher is doing a disservice not only to one kid but to the whole class. They

PenitenziAgite: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 14:06:06 EST

The diagnosis criteria for ADD are much more well-defined than that. Neuropsychologists and psychiatrists have a battery of tests, and ADD can be clearly determined. There are two basic subtypes of ADD, and hyperactivity is a symptom in only on

stevetherobot: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 09:48:42 EST

In case my comment wasn't clear, the teacher and student in my link are not the same ones as in the write up.

HidingFromGoro: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 00:36:21 EST

It's like those ADD diagnosis criteria: "child would rather run around and play outside than sit and memorize standardized test questions."

PenitenziAgite: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Tue, 3 Jun 2008 23:49:47 EST

ignorant, selfish, self-absorbed

...and what kid isn't?

thefadd: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Tue, 3 Jun 2008 19:11:55 EST

Thank god she doesn't teach high school.

She should be sentenced to teaching high school. I stand by my what if's and remember when's but there's no defending that.

Lou: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Tue, 3 Jun 2008 18:20:58 EST

"You've been ignorant, selfish, self-absorbed, the whole thing. I'm done..."

Holy crap...this is how she feels about a little kid? Thank god she doesn't teach high school.

stevetherobot: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Tue, 3 Jun 2008 16:55:41 EST

Wait. Wait. Holy crap. You mean this isn't the other story about a kindergarten teacher verbally abusing a five year old and asking the class if they wanted him in the class? She was Do you

Lou: Re: the untrustworthy narrator

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 17:28:19 EST

I hear you, brother. You experience closely matches mine...except that no one really showed me what was appropriate. The only refuge I found was in high school through the science club and the chess club (which morphed into a wargaming club and

port1080: Re: the untrustworthy narrator

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 17:09:57 EST

Somehow I don't think you were ever on the receiving end of that "group discipline". I was a social outcast in elementary school and middle school - I didn't really break out of my shell until high school. As it was, I was capriciously picked o

Ozyman: My moment of fame.

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 15:07:51 EST

Here is the police report of what happened:
http://www.slate.com/id/2192480/entry/0/

And, as an aside. I attended Kindergarten at this school. As far as I can remember

thefadd: Re: the untrustworthy narrator

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 13:53:52 EST

I'm with Gerry here and maybe even a little more extreme. I went to schools where there was no adult discipline. This was possible because of the backgrounds and parental support kids brought from home but there were still discipline problems sometimes--an

ms sue: Re: update link

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 11:39:48 EST

The prepping to which you refer is, I believe, this:

Portillo told the officer after he left the classroom with Alex, she talked with the other children.

"Portillo said she explained to them that the students in class were all her priority and she

gerrymander: update link

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 11:24:49 EST
OK, so there's been a addition to the story which provides the teacher's side. As could be expected, it's a mixed bag:
Barton had not

ms sue: Re: the untrustworthy narrator

Sat, 31 May 2008 16:43:34 EST
The "this" was this:
Was it forever, or for the afternoon? If forever, was it only exclusionary, or did the teacher suggest/kids vote for Barton to enter a special ed class?
Not appropriate. No way.
A teacher asking the class "who think

Lou: End of story

Sat, 31 May 2008 14:55:38 EST
Regardless if the teacher was nice, nasty...if the other kids tormented the one kid, this idiot of a teacher should have known not to pass her authority on to the students she's "teaching". You simply do not abrogate your authority...end of story. &n

Lou: The speech that dare not say its name

Sat, 31 May 2008 14:50:10 EST
"talking out problems" which normally gets all kinds of praise from new-agey soft-headed types,
Don't beat around the bush, Gerry...call it appeasement. You know you want to.

MayorBob: And I disagree with you.

Sat, 31 May 2008 13:21:57 EST
The only thing Portillo has effectively demonstrated to the class is that it's alright to gang up on one member of their group. There are enough gray areas in this story regarding Alex (e.g., does he really have Asperger's, does he have ADD, does he have

port1080: Re: the untrustworthy narrator

Sat, 31 May 2008 12:41:26 EST
The latter would clearly be unacceptable, the former uncontroversial.
Actually, I'm pretty sure they would probably both be considered unacceptable, at least from a "best practices" teaching standpoint. You don't give the kids any sort of pow

gerrymander: Re: Gerry, we're talking kindergarten here.

Sat, 31 May 2008 12:01:00 EST
Under no circumstance should Portillo convene a kangaroo court with Alex's classmates as jurors. For one thing, they're probably easily led by the example of Portillo in not having any concern at all for Alex as a human being.
Reading that, I can

gerrymander: Re: the untrustworthy narrator

Sat, 31 May 2008 11:35:06 EST
Or are you seriously suggesting that it would ever, under any circumstance, be remotely appropriate for this to take place in a classroom under the eye of an approving teacher?
I think it very much depends on what "this" is, and my point is that

MayorBob: Gerry, we're talking kindergarten here.

Sat, 31 May 2008 10:57:40 EST
Someone's got to be the adult authority here and that person would be Portillo. If she was having a bad hair day, maybe she should have gone to the front office and told them she wasn't up to dealing with the kiddies. If Alex Barton does have such a seve

ms sue: Re: the untrustworthy narrator

Sat, 31 May 2008 10:49:44 EST
We also don't know the details of the "voted out of class" part. Was it forever, or for the afternoon? If forever, was it only exclusionary, or did the teacher suggest/kids vote for Barton to enter a special ed class? And again, would an Asperger's-affl

HidingFromGoro: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Fri, 30 May 2008 11:57:23 EST
it's clear that Ms. Portillo doesn't belong in a classroom. I'm sure she'd make a fine correctional officer, however.
Having been in both public school and prison, there isn't much difference between the two.

gerrymander: the untrustworthy narrator

Fri, 30 May 2008 11:29:28 EST
Put me down as being extremely unhappy with the reporting of this story. Not only are we only getting one side of the story, we're getting it from a heavily mediated, and potentially untrustworthy, source.
For legal reasons, neither the teacher nor the

dzetetes: Re: The kindergarten class has spoken; it's time f

Fri, 30 May 2008 10:19:15 EST
I'd be a proud parent if my child was the one (or one of the two, if Alex wasn't allowed to vote against his own ostracism) who voted against kicking the kid out of the class.
Bringing a civil suit against the teacher might be a little much (and I'm not