Failure is a natural part of the learning process, and while some do their best to pick themselves up afterward, some place the blame on others. Such is the case for Aleysha Ortiz, a former high school student who graduated from Hartford Public Schools (HPS) in Connecticut. Unable to read even after graduation, Ortiz places the ultimate responsibility for her academic failures upon HPS, claiming that she never had the proper “opportunity to learn” because of the staff’s negligence. As a result, she’s suing HPS for a whopping $3 million.
“I should have had the help of a special education teacher, a paraprofessional, lessons designed to meet me where I was and challenge me, speech therapy, and occupational therapy,” Ortiz protested during an interview with CT Mirror. “I felt like [no one] cared about my future, because I didn’t receive those supports.” Simply put, she was put through the school system without attention being placed on her disabilities. By the time she reached the finish line, she felt like she had nothing to show for it.
Needless to say, this is a tragic tale of an immigrant student who fell through the cracks of the American school system, which let her graduate without having achieved basic literacy, among other things. Ortiz also claims she was bullied by staff at HPS, who would allegedly humiliate her publicly for making mistakes. However, all this summing up into an excessive expensive lawsuit of $3 million has caused many internet users to doubt the severity of this Connecticut student’s woes.
“So they didn’t meet her needs during her entire time in elementary, middle, and high school yet chooses to wait until after graduation to file suit so she claims harm with $3m in damages?” questions a top-upvoted commenter. “If education was truly her priority, she would have filed while she was still in school to get the help she needed.” “Yet another lazy opportunist, remarks another. “$3M in damages? Why? Oh, because she failed to meet the mark and cannot land a job. That’s on her, not her teachers,” they argue. One user declares that Ortiz is just “trying to get revenge on a bad teacher” and she is just “lazy and blaming others for her problems.”
More followers of the news report wonder where Ortiz’s parents are in all this. “This is an abject failure of parenting,” remarks a Redditor. “Yes, the schools should have done better and be held accountable, but this young woman was primarily failed by her parents.” One could argue that perhaps her parents lacked the know-how, time, or proper education themselves to be of help. However, it’s hard to imagine that parents who truly care for their children wouldn’t show interest in the successes or failures of their education. “She should also sue her parents or whatever caregiver she lived with during her schooling because they are at least 50% responsible,” states another.
