What the Fuck is Wrong With These People? - Wendy Portillo

Tuesday, May 27, 2008
We all know the Boards of Education in Florida are a bunch of dumbasses when it comes to their educational standards, but now it appears they've decided to compromise acceptable classroom behavior, as well. For teachers, that is.

It seems that Wendy Portillo, a teacher at Morningside Elementary in Port St Lucie, Florida, had a student in her class who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism. Like many autistic youngsters, Alex Barton has had behavioral problems for a number of years, and as such, has a tough time in his public school, where he is a member of Ms. Portillo's kindergarten class.

After a disciplinary incident, Ms. Portillo made Alex stand at the front of the class. She then encouraged the other members of the kindergarten class to openly discuss what they didn't like about Alex, while he had to stand there and listen.

She then decided to take a vote, a la "Survivor," on whether or not young Alex (who is five years old) should be allowed to remain in the class. He was "voted out," 14-2.

Needless to say, Alex is devastated by this emotional lynching, and his mother has heard him say to himself over and over, "I'm not special, I'm not special."

Fury.

My rage burns with the heat of 100 white-hot suns.

I want to drive, hell-bent for election, to the Denver International Airport, and fly to Port St. Lucie. I want to find Wendy Portillo and give her the beat-down of the century. I want to grind her face into the ground, make her eat dirt, and make her wish she'd never gone into education. I want to pull her hair out by the roots, tear her ears off and make her wish she'd never been born.

What the fuck is wrong with this woman? Who thinks humiliating and denigrating a young, disabled child, and teaching other kids to do the same, is acceptable behavior in an educator? Seriously, how has this woman made it so far without someone noticing what a horrible human being she is?

I'll tell you what's wrong with her, and I'll use a word that I use only in the most dire, most heinous circumstances: She's a cunt. She has a fatal flaw in her psyche that allows her to hurt and emotionally abuse a child for whom she has responsibility. She's fundamentally broken, and should never be allowed near children again. Ever.

This horrible excuse for a human being has been reassigned to an office duty post in the St. Lucie County School District. They'd do better to throw her in a bottomless pit where she can be slowly eaten by flesh-eating bacteria. Young Alex has not returned to class, and his mother is considering pressing charges.

This fabulous educator can be contacted at:

Wendy Portillo
4204 Okeechobee Rd
Fort Pierce, FL
34947
(772) 337-6730
PortilloW@stlucie.k12.fl.us

The Superintendent can be contacted at:

Michael J. Lannon
4204 Okeechobee Rd
Fort Pierce, FL
34947
(772)429-3925
LannonM@stlucie.k12.fl.us

You're welcome.

I'm off to go wash out my brain with lye, in an attempt to get this story out of my mind. I do not expect to succeed.


H/T to Cindi in CO and the Sun Sentinel

11 comments:

Cindi in CO said...

Wow, the C word! I knew I could count on you.

Janiece said...

She earned it. What a sorry, sorry situation.

Nathan said...

At least they pulled her out of the class. I thought you were gonna tell us the School was defending her.

Tania said...

Oh, that poor poor child. We all learn that the world is full of petty vindictive fuckups, but he didn't need to learn it so young and in such a horrible way.

That's awful. I had a manager do that in a staff meeting to an employee we all had problems with. We had problems with that manager too.

I need to go stomp on something.

Janiece said...

Nathan, I think they're "investigating."

Yeah, right.

Tania, I agree. Everyone learns the lesson that the world doesn't give a shit about them, but a five year old shouldn't have to learn it from someone who they're supposed to be able to trust.

Jeri said...

I am just flabbergasted. (I can't think of any other word that describes it!)

I think an exception to the laws against cruel and unusual punishment are in order - I'm thinking a few weeks in the stocks might be appropriate here. (Or a public stoning, but I'd hate to waste the rocks.)

Random Michelle K said...

Y'know, things like this don't help me to escape my cranky mood.

What a fuckwit.

Jim Wright said...

Hmmm, I saw this on the news, but I saw no mention of whether or not the school gave the mother one of those: "My Child was filled with self-esteem at shitforbrains elementary school" bumper stickers.

The correct thing here is to prosecute the teacher for abuse of authority and mental abuse of a child. The State needs to pull her teaching certificate, immediately.

But what really needs to happen, right now, is that somebody needs to explain to the other children in the class why this situation was wrong.

Anonymous said...

Janiece, "cunt" is too mild a word for that sorry excuse for shit in a human-shaped shit sack. I don't think they make words strong enough (and I don't like to use the word "cunt" either).

I agree with Jim: pull her certificate, prosecute for abuse and throw her ass in jail. In addition, I would recommend that she be sued for everything she has (which isn't much, considering she's a teacher) and that she never, ever be allowed to be around children again. If she has children, take them away from her - who knows how much mental damage she's inflicted on them.

And, again in agreement with Jim, make sure the other kids know how completely and horribly wrong the situation was, but without using the same techniques on them.

I am so glad I don't live in Florida anymore. I wish my sister would leave that sorry-ass "state."

Anonymous said...

OMG- what a relief to read this! I actually laughed out loud- you are right on target and didn't mince a word. Here's a scary tidbit: this actually occurred several days before autism support groups picked up on it and began to spread it all over the country, when the media caught wind and then everyone knew. Until everyone everywhere found out about it and the shit hit the fan, the school was doing NOTHING. Their response to Melissa Barton (this little boy's mother) was "Well, the teacher doesn't feel that she did anything wrong"- and that was it!! They weren't going to do anything about it, and Wendy Portillo kept teaching for days afterwards!!!! Plus, Alex spent the entire day in the nurse's office until his mother came to pick him up- what are the chances that the principal didn't know he was in there??!! There is a reason that teacher felt confident enough to do something so heinous in that school, and THAT makes me sick.

Janiece said...

Welcome, klrenard.

I think you'll find that "mincing words" isn't really the MO around here.

I'm usually not this vitriolic, but this woman really pushed my buttons.