This video comes from the submissions to the Sprout Film Festival. If you live in Oregon or Washington, you have a chance to purchase tickets to the festival that is coming in September. Previews of past films at the festival can be found on youtube.
David Andrews has a film that was apart of the festival as well but unfortunately his film, which can be found here has its embed option disabled.
The goal of the festival is "Making the Invisible Visible". While the title is a bit harsh, as if you are one of the "Invisibles" you don't consider yourself invisible but the goal isn't to bring enlightenment to the subjects in the film but to bring enlightenment to a broader audience. According to organiziers:
There may not be anything in the world more influential than the medium of film. Weaving socially responsible information into pure entertainment might be the quickest way to reach the masses to make a positive impact on relevant social issues. The Sprout Film Festival strives to create a unique experience that has the ability to educate, touch hearts, inspire ideas, and connect audiences.
Recently, 5 year old St. Lucie County School kindergartener Alex Barton made world wide news by being voted out of his class, in what some have called "Survivor" style after the popular television show. St. Lucie County Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon, also voted 2007 Florida Superintendent of the year, has stated that young master Barton's case will be thoroughly investigated and that he is concerned with the actions of Alex's teacher, Wendy Portillo. However, Mr. Lannon has a poor track record of handling documented abuse cases in his district and he knowingly employs special education workers with criminal histories.
The below mug shot was removed by the Indian County Sheriff's department, probably due to a complaint by Frank or an FOF (friend of Frank). The webmaster kindly sent me a note saying that he had removed access to the photo because I bypassed the notification rules. Being the typical autie perserverator though, I managed to take a screen shot of Frank's mug and arrest record when I originally linked the document. Never know what might disappear from websites:-)
DUI ARREST
WILLFUL WANTON RECKLESS DRIVING (Road Rage?)
FACEBOOK
There is certainly more arrest records on Frank I have pulled from other counties. I post this information because I believe it shows a pattern of the type of employees Superintendent Lannon hires to work in the special needs classrooms in the St. Lucie County Schools. Anyone with a drinking and driving problem and road rage arrests has no business working with children, especially disabled children.
Meet 7 year old student "John Doe", allegedly a victim of Frank Krukauskas:
A very lengthy and well documented case investigation to appear on this website soon that will demonstrate a lack of professional judgement on Mr. Lannon's supervision as well as a seemingly disregard for the welfare of autistic and other special education student's under his charge.
He is kind, he has a sense of justice, and he is caring. This picture accurately reflects my son's soul. In it, he is helping to push the babies at the day care center. If I died tomorrow and had one picture to take with me, this would be the one.
I hope my son's act of kindness in this picture is reciprocated one day by those other children in this picture. My own experience informs me that at least one of the children on that buggy will learn intolerance from society and family. They certainly weren't born that way nor will they learn intolerance from us.
Almost exact same story as Alex Barton's, except the child wasn't autistic, but neurotypical. The teacher's reaction was nearly identical and this time it was caught on tape. Many bloggers have thought the answer forward was additional education and support for teachers about autistic students. While I agree that this is important, without regard with what happened to Alex Barton, to argue that the answer is additional education of teachers to me ignores and somehow feels to me as to shift the blame from the teacher to a lack of supports.
In both these cases, the teacher was said to have been a good teacher for many years (12 and 13 yrs). Good teachers don't act with such immaturity as displayed in both these cases. Arguing over a lack of supports for the teacher or the education system is legitimate when it comes to advocating for services. Its never legitimate in my mind when we are talking about abuse and then somehow tacitly implying that abuse occurs because the abuser didn't have enough supports.
I ask this: Was a lack of educational support about neurotypical, active boyhood-syndrome a cause for the way 5 year old Gabriel Ross was treated?
Those are some of the harsh names an Indiana kindergarten teacher called one of her students, and the boy's parents captured it all on tape.
Five-year-old Gabriel Ross complained over the school year that his teacher, Kristen Woodward, was being mean to him, said his mother Tabitha McMahan and stepfather J.R. Edwards. Gabriel told them other kids didn't like him because he was "bad and stupid."
When he began acting out at home, they decided to take action and try to find out what was going on in the classroom. So in mid-April, McMahan and Edwards sent Gabriel to school with a tape recorder in the pocket of his cargo pants.
What they heard over four hours of tape shocked them. Woodward can be heard telling Gabriel that he had "tortured and tormented" her and other teachers all year.
"I've been more than nice to you all year long and you've been ignorant, selfish, self-absorbed, the whole thing! I'm done!" Woodward says to Gabriel on the tape.
She continues: "Something needs to be done because you are pathetic! If me saying these words to you hurt, I hope it does because you're hurting everyone else around you."
Gabriel can be heard crying on the tape.
"You think it's bad when you see it on paper, but when you are hearing the way she says it to him. I can't even talk about it," McMahan told ABC affiliate WHAS, breaking into tears.
Edwards said that the worst part of the tape was when Woodward singled Gabriel out in front of the whole class.
"So you guys think, is that somebody you want to be with?" Woodward asks the class.
In unison, the other students reply, "Noooo."
"See, your friend doesn't want to be with you. I don't know what else to tell you. So you're not going to have friends because of your actions."
Teacher Suspended
After 13 years of teaching, Woodward has been suspended indefinitely, according to the Indiana State Teachers Association.
The teachers' association is defending Woodward, saying that she "lost her cool" that day and hasn't had a chance to tell her side of the story.
Carol Mooney, a spokeswoman with the Indiana State Teachers Association, told the New Albany News and Tribune newspaper that Woodward is well liked by co-workers, parents and students and that she had trouble with Gabriel all year.
"What do you say to a kid who's rolling around, punching, biting, kicking? What can a teacher do?" Mooney said to the newspaper.
Woodward did not respond to phone messages from ABC News.
The New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. issued a statement saying, "Privacy issues and policy prohibit school officials from discussing ongoing investigations of employee misconduct."
Parents Worry About Long-Term Effect
Gabriel's stepfather, J.R. Edwards, told ABCNEWS.com that all the children in the class are given weekly progress reports and have frequent meetings with the teacher. He said Gabriel's reports had both "smiley faces" for good behavior and "frown faces," which indicates the student needs help in a certain area.
Gabriel's reports said he was sometimes "disruptive" and didn't keep his hands to himself.
Two weeks into the school year, Edwards said Woodward talked about setting up a "behavioral plan" for Gabriel, but when he approached Woodward to discuss the plan, she allegedly said, "I don't have time for this."
Edwards also said that Gabriel's behavior at home didn't make them think he was acting up at school.
"He's not perfect, but he's not out of control," Edwards said.
After hearing the tape, Edwards and McMahan pulled Gabriel out of school and are trying to figure out which school to send him to next year.
They are also exploring the possibility of pursuing a civil or criminal action against Woodward and the school district.
But Edwards said they are most concerned about the psychological impact the entire situation has had on Gabriel.
"I hope this doesn't affect him long-term, in his feelings about school or teachers," Edwards said. "We're going to seek some kind of help for him."
The above video was made to reference a case in New England that occurred in September of 2007. In this particular case, a young middle school boy with Asperger's Syndrome was beaten up after he got off the bus by a group of other children and it was filmed by another child. In this case, the school system put the children on suspension. That case highlights a larger question about human mob mentality and where children learn to devalue lives of people of difference. Thus I think it appapro to the case of Alex Barton.
Mrs. Wendy Portillo is a Kindergarten teacher at Morningside Elementary, in Port St. Lucie Florida. On Wednesday April 21st, 2008, Mrs. Portillo likely caused permanent emotional scarring of one of her 5 year old students. In a story by Colleen Wixon of the TCPalm, Mrs. Portillo led her class in a "Survivor" type vote to exclude Alex Barton from the class. The 5 year old was placed in front of the class and each student was allowed to say what they didn't like about Alex (reportedly telling Alex he was disgusting and annoying) and then a vote was taken on whether Alex should be allowed to be included in the classroom or not. By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex out of the class. He was then sent to the nurse's office. When Alex's mother, Melissa Barton came to pick him up, she found Alex "shaken-up".
The following night (Thursday), Alex's mother, Melissa, overheard Alex saying "I'm not special" over and over again. According to his mother, Alex is reliving the incident. Mrs. Barton stated "He was incredibly upset" and "The only friend he has ever made in his life was forced to do this".
One fact that makes what Ms. Portillo did especially egregious is that since February, Ms. Portillo has known that Alex was undergoing an evaluation by the school system in St. Lucie County for a disability covered under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"). The IDEA is a law ensuring that students with disabilities receive services throughout the nation. Alex was being evaluated for possibly having Asperger's Syndrome, one of the five pervasive developmental disorders associated with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. The IDEA requires that the school system evaluate the child and if found to have a covered disability, an IEP (Individual Education Program) is to be created by a team. The team consists of the child's teacher (for Alex it was Ms. Portillo), a special education teacher, parents, and the school's specialized professionals such as a speech pathologist, occupational therapists etc. According to reports, Ms. Portillo had been participating with the IEP team since Alex was identified as a child possibly covered under IDEA.
I find it incredible that Ms. Portillo, knowing that Alex most likely had a disability affecting his ability to communicate and socialize in a typical way, would nonetheless do exactly what is possibly the worst thing she could do and that is to subject him to public humiliation and to teach the other children the dynamics and acceptability of a mob bullying. Even if Alex didn't have a disability, the implications of what Ms. Portillo did is nothing short of outrageous. What she did was aggressive and anti-social. She used her authority to organize what was essentially a psychological mob lynching of a five year old.
Mrs. Barton has attempted to find redress with Morningside Elementary's resource officer. According to Michelle Steele, the spokeswoman of the Port St. Lucie Department, an investigation was done and the state attorney's office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse!
MS. PORTILLO'S EGREGIOUS VIOLATIONS
Violations of Florida's Child Abuse Law
According to Florida law code 39.202, 205; 39.201; 39.01 (2), emotional abuse is defined as "Willful or threatened act resulting in physical, mental, or sexual injury or harm, causing or likely to cause impairment of physical, mental or emotional health". Apparently, the state attorney felt that marching a 5 year old in front of a class to allow his classmates to denigrate him and then to exclude him from the learning environment was neither "willful" on Ms. Portillo's part nor likely to cause an emotional impairment for Alex. How the state's attorney came to that conclusion is simply mind boggling. The facts are that a public humiliation of a small child occurred, the child was "shaken up" and unable to attend the school and was heard repeating "I'm not special" which indicates to me that he has internally processed the exact message Ms. Portillo intended (i.e. that he is not a good person). Ms. Portillo has created a hostile environment for Alex in his classroom and thus I believe has created a "willful act resulting in mental harm and causing an impairment of emotional health".
Violations of Florida law HB 669
On April 30, 2008, the governor of Florida signed into law an anti-bully measure titled HB 669-School Safety, Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act". I believe Ms. Portillo has violated the following sections of this law: According to section 1006.147 (2), (2a) (3a), Florida Statutes, Bullying and Harrassment of any student or school employee of a public K-12 educational institution is prohibited; (2a) During any education program or actiity conducted by a public k-12 educational institution is prohibited; (2b) During any school-related or school-sponsored program or activity or on a school bus of a public K-12 educational institution; (3) (3a) For purposes of this section (a) bullying means systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students and may involve: Teasing; Social Exclusion: Threat, Intimidation: Stalking: Physical violence: Theft: Sexual or racial harassment: Public Humiliation; or Destruction of property; (3b) Harrassment means any threatening, insulting, or dehumanizing gesture including written and verbal conduct directed against a student or school employee that: 1. Places a student or school employee in reasonable fear of harm to his or her person; 2 Has the effect of substantially disrupting the orderly operaton of a school. The definitions for bullying and harassment included in HB 669 that Ms. Portillo is likely to have commented are the following: in section (3d) include 2. "Perpetuation of conducted listed in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) by an individual or group with intent to demean, dehumanize, embarrass, or cause physical harm to a student or school employee, by incitement or coercion and 4. "Acting in a manner that has an effect substantially similar to the effect of bullying or harassment."
The following facts are clear and not in contention according to the TCPalm report. Ms. Portillo, admitted that she held Alex out in front of the class ( 2a: during any education program or activity and incitement or coercion), encouraged his classmates to participate in an exercise to cause public humiliation (by asking the students to identify him in derogatory ways) in violation of 3a (inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students), 3b (Harrassment means any threatening, insulting, or dehumanizing gesture including written and verbal conduct directed against a student) and 4 (Acting in a manner that has an effect substantially similar to the effect of bullying or harassment). Finally, Ms. Portillo allowed the "mob" she created to exclude Alex from an appropriate educational setting in violation of 3b2 (has the effect of substantially interfering with a student's educational performance, opportunities, or benefits).
In a review of how HB 669 defines bullying (means systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students), Ms. Portillo seems to have violated nearly half of the 10 definitions of bullying in HB 669. She committed the following in accordance with the definition:
1. Teasing
2. Social exclusion
4. Intimidation
9. Public humiliation
Investigators should look into whether she has chronically committed acts listed above more than once in order to establish a violation under the definition. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that she has.
It's unfortunate that Ms. Portillo's acts didn't occur after he was formally identified as qualifying under IDEA because she has violated multiple rules under the IDEA.
Violation of The Florida State Board of Education Rules on Ethics
Ms. Portillo violated basic ethical tenants that are outlined by the State of Florida Board of Education. In particular, Ms. Portillo violated Rule 6B-1.006, FAC. By bringing Alex in front of other students, and subjecting him to group humiliation, as well as giving tacit permission to the students to harass Alex, she violated the Ethics Code that teachers place themselves under when they apply for a Florida Teacher's Certificate.
1) The following disciplinary rule shall constitute the Principles of Professional Conduct of the Education Profession in Florida.
2) Violation of any of these principles shall subject the individual to revocation or suspension of the individual educator's certificate, or the other penalties as provided by law.
3) Obligation to the student requires that the individual:
a) Shall make reasonable effort to protect the student from conditions harmful to learning and/or the student's mental and/or physical health and/or safety.
e) Shall not intentionally expose the student to unnecessary embarrassment or disparagement.
g) Shall not harass or discriminate against any student on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefts, marital status, handicapping condition, sexual orientation, or social and family background and shall make reasonable effort to assure that each student is protected from harassment or discrimination.
In Obligation 5 (Obligation to the profession), Section D states: Shall not engage in harassment or discriminatory conduct which reasonably interferes with an individual's performance of professional or work responsibilities or with the orderly process of education or which creates a hostile, intimidating, abusive, offensive, or oppressive environment; and further, shall make reasonable effort to assure that each individual is protected from such harassment or discrimination.
According to State Board of Education Rule 6B-1.001 FAC: 1) The educator values the worth and dignity of every person, the pursuit of truth, devotion to excellence, acquisition of knowledge, and the nurture of democratic citizenship. Essential to the achievement of these standards are the freedom to learn and to teach and the guarantee of equal opportunity for all.
2) The educator's primary professional concern will always be for the student and for the development of the student's potential. The educator will therefore strive for professional growth and will seek to exercise the best professional judgement and integrity.
Violation of Port St. Lucie's Mission Statement
The St. Lucie County Public Schools has a mission statement and it explicitly states: "The schools of the St. Lucie County School District in partnership with parents and community will become premier centers of knowledge that are organized around students and the work provided to them. St. Lucie County School District's name will be synonymous with the continuously improving student achievement and the success of each individual. Our school district's promise is to move from good to great focusing on our core business, the creation of challenging, engaging and satisfying work for every stuent, every day. This is the St. Lucie way!" Somehow I doubt the school system would consider the actions of Ms. Portillo (creating a humiliating and dehumanizing environment for a kindergartener and subjecting him to the "mob" mentality) is in accordance with the school system's mission statement.
Violation of FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)
I must say though that Alex's rights under the Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) were apparently violated by the school district itself. FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of student educational records and applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. According to TCPalm's report, the school resource officer Michelle Steele released some of Alex's personal education records when she stated "Steele said the boy had been sent to the principal's office because of disciplinary issues." This is information that would be a part of his school records and thus protected under FERPA.
If the school district cannot abide by Federal Law itself, what can possibly be expected of them to hold Ms. Portillo accountable? Time will tell. The initial response has been rather bland and unextraordinary.
The Digital Journal highlights an important question in this case when they ask:
"Exactly what is being taught when a child - any child- is verbally attacked by classmates and then excluded? This is the mentality of reality television shows, and has no place in school. Deliberately subjecting a child to verbal abuse and rejection is a violation of the trust that teachers are given by parents, a violation of the most basic ethics we expect from anyone who has children under their care."
It's not unusual for autistic people to suffer from abuse and bullying, in fact it's the norm. When it comes at the hands of a trusted public servant such as a teacher, it's doubly hurtful because we expect an adult to know better. But when a teacher solicits participation of a group of 5 year olds in what is essentially a psychological mob lynching, one can legitimately conclude that this person should not be around any children at all. She "raped" a child of his dignity and has created an atmosphere of exclusion, intimidation and fear. This type of act on the part of Ms. Portillo shouldn't be allowed to happen again and anyone who cares about the psychological lives of children should demand her immediate and unconditional resignation. If she refuses, she should be fired. There should be no second chances in a situation such as this.
If you would like to send a message to the school board, the principal, the county school system, the media, and the Florida State's Attorney, I have created a customized letter that you can use by clicking on the links below. You can modify it to your liking. Let's send a message that no second chances are warranted in this situation.
"Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Elie Wiesel
Update: 5/27/08 12:30pm - According to the Fort Pierce Tribune, Ms. Portillo has been reassigned on an interim basis to administrative offices and removed from the classroom pending investigation. Worldwide outrage over what happened to Alex and no doubt a deluge of letters and emails has caused the school to reevaluate its position because as of last Friday, nothing had been done, two days after the incident took place. Ms. Barton stated in the comments that the school system didn't seem to be taking the matter seriously. I know this website has been viewed, and letters downloaded thousands of times since it was first posted. Countless good hearted people were moved to outrage over this incident. I would urge those who are just coming to this story to continue to send letters and emails to the officials below. The school year has just about ended and there will be competing interests involved in this situation. The school system needs to know that while they decided to move in the proper direction (albeit only through public pressure) that we still intend to follow through to make sure that if the investigation confirms what was in the original complaint, that Ms. Portillo needs to be removed from the classroom permanently as this situation does not deserve a second chance. My concern is that Ms. Portillo will simply be moved to another school in the Fall and that would send the wrong message to others that would bully children. I also hope the State Board of Education, that has the power to revoke a teaching license will also follow up with an investigation. The State's Attorney needs to explain his/herself as to why this incident did not meet the emotional abuse statute outlined above and how in one day they could make that determination. Can a proper investigation be done by the State's Attorney in a day? I don't see how that is possible. This situation warrants a thorough and thoughtful investigation and I'm concerned that neither was done. Children's emotional well being should not be treated in what appears to be such a flippant manner.
Pattern of Abuse in the St. Lucie County School District
Added: May 28, 2008 at 9:00pm: The St. Lucie County School system seems to have a history of hiring employees who abuse children. In September of 2007, an aide, Ms. Belinda Daniels, hired to help disabled students on they're bus, is facing felony charges of child abuse after alleging hitting a 7 year old boy. Apparently what precipitated the incident was the young boy dropping his bookbag on the floor of the bus. The bus Ms. Daniels was working on was equipped with recorded video monitors. The aide, Belinda Daniels, is heard on the bus video say "Boy, what did you do?" Get in that seat." according to Cherie Lucas of the Port St. Lucie Police. Ms. Lucas states that Daniels "reaches into the seat where the victim was, and she 'swats" something in the seat, but you cannot actually see what her hand connects with? Lucas said one witness reportedly saw Daniels' hand make contact with the victim. Lucas states "Daniels then yanked the victim up and 'roughly' put him in the seat." At the time of the press report, some 14 days afterward (and despite the district being aware of a police investigation being conducted based on witness testimony and video from the bus), Ms. Daniels was still an employee of the Port St. Lucie School System according to district spokesperson Janice Karst when contacted by the press.
The TCPalm discovered that Ms. Daniels was arrested in 1985 on a fraud charge and convicted and another charge of fraud brought against her in 1994 by an employer was dropped. When confronted with the criminal history of Ms. Daniels, Ms. Karst (school spokesperson) was reported as stating "Convicted felons aren't eligible for employment with the district, but those with misdemeanor convictions can be hired depending on what the misdemeanor was and if the applicant is forth coming with the information. Like Portillo, Daniels also showed school records showing "generally high evaluations" dating back several years and a 2003 evaluation notes she's a "very compassionate and caring individual." According to Officer Lucas, "I believe in my mind that any reasonable person looking at that video would believe that child was struck. It substantiated everything that the original witness, the complainant, told me." The school never bothered to remove Daniels from the bus until the TCPalm exposed the story, also similar to the current Portillo incident. To see Daniels arrest record click here.
Look to this website for an investigative report on systemic abuse occurring under St. Lucie County School's Superintendent Michael Lannon here. A story of drunkard's in charge of special education teaching and physical abuse allegations.
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