My heart is broken right now. On October 31st, I made the painful decision to resign from Tsay Keh Dene, where I had been the junior teacher (7,8,9). The kids were unique, and I really wanted to help them individually and collectively. We were making progress, however, they did have some really challenging behaviours. On a related, or unrelated note (I’m not sure), ever since I took a week off to teach the Professional Development Seminar in New Westminster, I’d had a bad feeling about the way senior administration was behaving. There were some abusive and hurtful things / words said and done, so I made a snap decision to resign before it got worse. But, we had been making plans. The community was lovely. The elders were gentle and generous. They’d taken us berry picking in the fall in their traditional place and I’d “gained” some unforgettable aunties in my life. My boss, Tania and I were hoping to take the students on a big overnight hike, up the mountain overlooking the school. We were hoping to break the trail! It could have been legendary. It was in many ways the best job I’ve had. My friends at work shed tears over it, the kids and elders shed tears over it, and I shed tears over it. My bank account is sobbing uncontrollably. I still think about it every few minutes. Should I have stayed?
I think it might be time to move on. Actually, I’m proud of the decision to stop the “bad” in it’s tracks instead of keeping quiet and accepting it. Believe me, it was not easy. Of course, Tsay Keh Dene got into my brain and blood, so I’m hoping to “stick around” in spirit, for starters, by shipping monthly fresh food along with support from the kind and generous airline that flies there regularly. In my mind, this will “look” like the backpack buddies we had in Boston Bar for kids to grab if they need some food over the weekend. It’s do-able in Tsay Keh, someone’s just got to start the intitiative and prove it’s helpful.
This unfortunate job loss has helped me see light, kindness and generosity all around in unexpected places.
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