Bronwyn Harris, Author

Here's an essay from a psychologist in my district - or should I say my FORMER district?? - outlining why he quit. It is an interesting perspective and sadly, I can't say that he's wrong. His last example actually reminds me of an experience I had. I may have shared about this, but here it is again, briefly. I had a student, we'll call her "Denise." Denise has some traumatic experiences around abuse when she was an infant. The abuser - her biological father - is in prison and no longer in her life. She, along with her twin sister, who was not abused, is being raised by her mother and loving stepfather. Denise is a sweet child who has some learning disabilities and extreme anger issues when she gets frustrated. For example, if she can't understand something, she might pull every one of the 400 plus books in the classroom off the bookshelf and throw them across the room, grab scissors and stab the white board, rip papers up, and overturn desks. Her...

I recently had the opportunity to spend time with some foster kids. A couple at my church is doing a foster to adopt program and got three year old twins. I am super excited because this is what I'd like to do someday and because they are really, really awesome kids. The photo at the bottom are of the three year olds' rendition of my dog Solomon, on Post-it notes. I have always wished that more people would adopt. I understand that people want their "own" kids - actually, scratch that, I don't understand at all. I don't get the biological child thing (and I know, I know, I'm the minority here). I think that kids are kids and if there are kids without homes, we should be taking care of them before having our own. I am not forcing that view on anyone, but it would be my ideal world. Especially for Christians. When talking about Christian values, there is one message that is throughout the Old and New Testament - all over the place. Take care of the ...

The blog will come back as soon as I recover from going to Louisiana, Colorado, and Seattle in three weeks. (When I scheduled the trips they did not seem so close together!) So, if you'd like some entertainment until I get un-discombobulated, here are photos of the trips. Louisiana and more Louisiana , Colorado , and Seattle .

I have already filled out my separation forms and am now "divorced" from the district, I suppose. They paid me for some of my sick days - it's either 1/3 or 2/3 of what you'd get for a day's pay when you cash out sick days, I forget which (But I think it's 1/3 - that's why I tried so hard to use them up!) In their infinite wisdom, the payroll people sent the check to my old school, where I have not worked since June 2007. Luckily, a teacher called me to let me know it was there. A friend of mine, who is just now separating from the district, went to the district office to ask about this. The person she spoke with told her that she doesn't get paid at all for the sick days she doesn't use. That they "stay with the district." (Are they an actual physical commodity that the district is trying to stockpile?) I guess he just didn't know the answer, so it was easier to make something up than find out for certain. Dumb.