In New York City , fifth-grade teacher Melissa Dean has received a warning letter from the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board after she made her students write Christmas cards to a friend of hers that is serving time in prison. What makes it especially concerning is the cards contained the children's names and in some cases addresses. Fortunately they never made it to the prisoner and were intercepted by a corrections officer. Dean's punishment would have been much harsher but she had the good sense to resign in June. She taught at P.S. 143 in Queens and the incident happened last December. She had given the class an assignment to write the cards to people who were lonely. Instead, she sent the cards to a friend, John Coccarelli, who is serving time for illegal weapons possession.

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