Teacher Scolded for Having Students Write to Prison Inmate

By ANDY NEWMAN

A fifth-grade teacher in Queens who had her students send handmade Christmas cards to a friend serving time in state prison was issued a warning letter by the city's Conflicts of Interest Board, officials announced Monday.

The teacher, Melissa Dean, escaped harsher punishment in part because she resigned in June, said Carolyn Lisa Miller, the conflicts board's director of enforcement.

Ms. Dean, who taught at Public School 143 in the Corona neighborhood, assigned her students last December to write the cards to be delivered to people who were without family and were lonely, investigators found. One student told investigators that Ms. Dean had instructed her class to make Christmas cards for people in the hospital who were sick.

Instead, Ms. Dean sent the cards to John Coccarelli, who was at Groveland Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in Livingston County, after being convicted of violating an order of protection and illegal weapons possession.

Mr. Coccarelli was also charged in 2008 with possessing child pornography, but that charge was never brought to trial because he pleaded guilty to a higher count, prosecutors in Nassau County said.

The cards, many drawn in crayon, several of them containing personal messages and all containing the children's names, were intercepted by a correctional officer at the prison. The package also contained a card from Ms. Dean that said it was “from your Wifey” and was signed with a drawing of a heart, investigators said.

Several students told investigators that Ms. Dean had directed them to write something about themselves and their families. Two of the cards included the students' home addresses, investigators said.

Even when students declined to put their names on the cards - one told investigators she refrained because her mother would be mad if she gave information about hersel f to a stranger - Ms. Dean added their names, investigators said.

Under rules of the New York City Department of Education, a student's name or address is confidential information that may not be disclosed without permission from the student's parent or guardian, which investigators said Ms. Dean did not seek.

When confronted by investigators, Ms. Dean said that Mr. Coccarelli “is my friend” and that she “thought it was a nice thing to do” to have her students write to him.

Warning Letter to Teacher Who Had Students Write to Her Jailed Friend (PDF)

Warning Letter to Teacher Who Had Students Write to Her Jailed Friend (Text)