Deep South Moms

One Bad (Teacher) Apple can Spoil the Entire Bunch

I do not know Wendy Portillo personally. 

Nor do I know the parents of Morningside Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

But what I DO know is that in my opinion Ms. Portillo should never see the inside of a classroom again. No matter what her School Board says. No matter what the parents of Morningside Elementary School or her close friends and family say. The School Board is wrong, and the Superintendent is right. So was the judge.

Ms. Portillo, a teacher of 12 years, in a Survivor-like moment, allowed an entire classroom of Kindergarteners to vote out loud to have their classmate removed from the classroom after they each got a chance to tell him how his behavior had upset them.

What's Wrong with Our Kids? Wait, What's Wrong with Us?

Every 20 minutes a child is diagnosed with autism.  ADHD has increased by 400% in the last 20 years. More and more children are being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

It seems you can't turn on the TV or open a magazine without hearing and reading about the increase in childhood disorders.  It's difficult to be almost bombarded with talk shows, news stories, statistics, and pharm ads and not get caught up in the consciousness of disorder.

When you are raising a child who breaks all of the molds and the word "average" doesn't apply, it's even harder.

My oldest son is one of those kids.  From day one he was different.  For the first couple of years raising him, his father and I thought the challenges we had were due to inept parenting on our part.  Though we were trying our best, we were first-time parents, so what did we know?  It was just us.