Dad says teacher wanted autistic student kept home

Carl Stenger claims his son’s Lyndon B. Johnson Middle School teacher requested that the student, who has autism, stay home Friday because he might get “too stimulated” during the school’s Spring Fest.

Albuquerque Public Schools spokeswoman Monica Armenta said the teacher never made that request.

Stenger said the same teacher made a similar request in October, when the school held its fall festival. He said in both instances the teacher phoned his wife at work the Wednesday before the event.

“She said she thought our son would get too stimulated,” he said. “She said she thought it would be better if we kept our son home from school.”

The couple kept their son home both times, although Stenger sent a letter to principal Mike Bachicha on Thursday.

“I find it difficult (if not impossible) to imagine how you or your staff could rationalize denying an autistic student a chance to participate in a school activity a mere three days after Autism Awareness Day,” he writes. “I find it particularly troubling that his teacher (presumably a professional educator who specializes in the instruction of children who have autism) would make this request.”

Armenta said both the principal and an associate superintendent spoke to the teacher and that no one, including the teacher, asked the family to keep the boy home or even implied that he should do so.

“We have talked to her,” Armenta said. “… What we have here, is a very emotional teacher. She never said these things.”
— This article appeared on page C01 of the Albuquerque Journal