A kindergarten teacher does not "allow her students to vote" - she directs and leads her students to these cruel actions. Time and again we're told it's the bad kids and poor parents that ruin our schools, but this is certainly a case of a monstrous teacher that has done the harm. I've seen kind gestures from kids who want to get along with their classmates turned around by teachers who resented having to deal with special needs kids included in their classrooms. I think most parents of special needs kids would prefer them to be part of "normal" society and schools, but these kind of stories tear your heart out.

I think everyone agrees with a parent-- this was pretty cruel, and at any age it paints the student with a destructive label.

However, as a student of humanity, and an observer of classrooms, I think that there are far more instances (at least at upper grades) of when students are waiting, hoping, desperately wanting the student with the bad behavior to be removed so that the lesson can progress.

The teacher's action-- though inexcusable-- mirror what happens in society: people get ostracized socially, marginalized, fired, incarcerated, etc. when their behavior begins to interfere with the goals of the larger group and is outside the "norm".

This is precisely why we're having so many difficulties with issues in schools: our concept of norms, standards, rules has become so fuzzy in the generation of moral relativism that we have no references to guide us. A consequence of the enlightenment for sure.

I think when things get really bad, we will bring back a clearer idea of "reformatory" schools. Besides, our prisons are overflowing now. Maybe if the younger people in our society had more consequences at a point where adults could intervene, they would not graduate to more serious, felonious behavior?

I would think that most of the school violence stories that we have heard about involve "neurotypical" (i.e. non-autistic) kids in middle school or high school. We're talking about an autistic kindergartener here. His social skills are, by the definition of autism, going to be non-typical. Maybe he flapped his hands or wouldn't make eye contact; annoying, so kick him out of the class. We're guessing here, but since the teacher put it to a vote I think that this child did things that struck the teacher and other students as weird, not dangerous or disruptive.

Autistic kids face enough problems getting along in the world with issues of sensory sensitivity, language problems and difficulties interacting. When they are in inclusion settings, as this child was, they are looking for teachers to help them learn to get along in the neurotypical world and to help the other kids in the class understand disabled peers better. This teacher did the opposite.

If BCPSS's violence problems are due to special needs kids acting out in frustration then this story would relate to that problem. Although BCPSS has done a horrible job with Special Education and there are many frustrated kids, I don't think this is the case.

No need to guess about what happened anymore. Slate has published the police report here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2192480/entry/2192481/
Pretty hard to read without getting upset.

What happened in this classroom should never have happened. First, the child needs a one on one adult aide. Second, the entire class and especially the teacher needs an orientation on autism, on this child's needs, and on the fact that every child with a disability is legally entitled to be in the classroom. The parent needs to step up and insist that her child have a one on one aid. The teacher and the school system need to be updated on the laws. Also, the comments from "a teacher" on this blog are most uninformed. Who do you think are the majority of people in jails? People with learning disabilities or mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities - all the kids who were ostracized because nobody bothered to educate them or include them. Please, dear "a teacher", please, please retire..........