Despite the suspension that stains my teaching record, a suspension that I recently learned is now considered served during my semester of voluntary (and unpaid) leave, returning to The Center School today felt pretty darn good. I continue to be feel profound gratitude to all those who helped get me back into the building that I have for so many years accidentally called “home.” Perhaps the best adjective that could be used to describe today: “normal.” Being back felt unbelievably normal, even after my year and a half of exile. And I couldn’t have hoped for better than normal.
You might have seen my case back in the news:
Seattle Center School teacher won’t skip over the tough stuff, by Jerry Large of The Seattle Times
Suspension stands but popular Seattle teacher heads back to classroom, by Joel Connelly of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
I do not speak with journalists because I enjoy the spotlight, but I will not be silenced by a district that has yet to take any responsibility for its many roles in this never-ending ordeal. My gratitude extends to Joel Connelly and Jerry Large for caring enough about these issues to keep the conversations going. Without Connelly’s stalwart coverage of the case, fewer would know of this quotable assessment by journalist Tom Wicker, “Hell hath no fury like a bureaucracy defending itself.”
