Teacher Denies Slicing Wrist in Class

Talk about PSYCHO?!?!?!?

SYLVESTER, Ga. — A third-grade teacher accused of slashing her wrists in front of her class and molesting students has pleaded not guilty.

Georgianne Harrell, 24, was indicted last month on 24 charges of child molestation and reckless conduct. Her attorney entered the plea on her behalf and waived her right to an arraignment Tuesday.

Harrell cut her wrists with broken glass in front of her class at Holley Elementary School according to the indictment. Authorities also say she performed oral sex on a 9-year-old boy in her classroom, let students peek down her blouse and talked to some of the children about sexual matters.

Between August 2004 and May, authorities claim she abused a total of seven students. She has resigned from the school.

If convicted on all charges, she could receive maximum sentences ranging up to hundreds of years, prosecutors said.

Excerpts and Information from her Website

Ms. Georgianne Harrell wrote on her website:

Ever since I was a little girl and as far back as I can remember, I have dreamed of being a teacher. I was a teacher in my own little world. After attempts of teaching imaginary people proved unsuccessful, I knew I wanted to teach when I grew up. I was not sure of what I wanted to teach until my senior year in high school. I taught a group of kindergarteners and a group of first graders French for a semester. I did better than I thought I would have. I inspired those children to want to learn more. I was able to touch those children...

Sounds like Ms. Georgianne ended up in her dream job, too -- or at least close. The site where the quote above was found was last updated in 2001. By this year, 2005, Ms. Georgianne was teaching at Holley Elementary School in Worth County, Georgia.

On that website she made while still a student at Valdosta State -- her portfolio -- shortly after the quote above, Ms. Georgianne stated that she wanted to teach 1st grade.

Ms. Georgianne had another website -- www.valdosta.edu/~gcharrel/ -- here is a quote:

The following (sic) quote was taken from an email I received not long ago. I do not know where it originated, so I can't tell you who wrote it.

Dear God,
Why didn't you save the little girl killed in her classroom?
Sincerely,
Concerned Student

Dear Concerned Student,
I am not allowed in schools.
Sincerely,
God

Some things need to be changed, and I fear school will never be the same as it used to be. Better decisions need to be made. We as people and teachers need to think about how things affect the children. Putting faith in God, He will show us the way.

At the time she wrote the above, Ms. Georgianne was, according to other writing on the site, a senior in her second year of of the Early Childhood Education program -- perhaps as old as 22. One gets the impression that she was saying above that she regretted the secular nature of public schooling. That God and faith were welcome in her classroom.

Was she rendering herself a stigmatic in front of the shocked and traumatized students who watched blood drizzle out of her wrists?

What was so wrong that the woman ended up in charge of children? And moreover, a predator?

From her "gcharrel" page:

Some of my favorite things are:

Angels and cherubs I love children, and I strongly believe children are angels right here on earth. I love art, sculptures, pictures, and reading about angels. The Bible is the most inspirational reading I know. I enjoy learning about angels, cherubs, and fairies...

Some of the strangeness is in the writing above. Something about the intensely idealized vision of children, equating them with heavenly creatures.

It's crystallized here, though, at the page in her portfolio titled My Personal Educational Philosophy:

I am also bringing to the teaching profession an innate ability to attract the attention of children. The most important ability I possess is patience. It is by far the most important skill along with a desire to understand children. By making students and their needs the main focus of my classroom, they will value learning. By placing myself in their position, I can encourage them to achieve remarkable feats. With the right experiences, children can love school. They can feel that I am no different from them, because after all, I am still a child at heart. ~ (emphasis added -- S.H.)

Someone please call a very good shrink and bust out the meds....