Merry Christmas to all!
Whatever you celebrate, whatever your custom, happy holidays!
Affectionately,
Diane
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Right back ‘atcha!
Have a gneiss holiday!
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Diane,
May I extend to you and your family a very Merry & Bright Holiday Season!!! May 2015 Be Full Of New And Exciting Ventures For You!!!
All the Best,
Roberta Reid
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And to you as well, Diane. As Joseph Steiglitz was reputed to have said about Ansel Adams, it glads my heart to know that one Diane Ravitch is “out loose in the world!”
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Ditto Diane…and a happy Kwanza and a merry Chanuka to all.
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Wishing you good health and much happiness in the new year! Sincerely,Dave Cunningham
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Love to you and your family Diane. Always, Linda
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Diane thank you so much for all you do for kids, communities, and teachers. Thank you for your support of BATs and for your tireless work. I hope your holiday was joyful and that you New Year brings good health. ^0^
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sorry typo *your New Year….
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Thank you so much for all of your education activism!
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Merry Christmas! We appreciate all you to support children, public education, and teachers. This BAT is thankful for you.
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The happiest of holidays to you Diane and all your loved ones. You are an angel to so many. Thank you for all your continued efforts.
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Merry Christmas Diane and thank you for all of your support of us BATs!
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Happy Holidays to you also, Diane! Thank you for all the energy and support you continue to give to the fight for public schools and #ForTheKids. It is so appreciated!
Donna Mace ^0^
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Merry Christmas, Diane!
From a proud Ohio BAT parent
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Diane, Thank you for the support and encouragement. As a veteran teacher planning to retire much earlier than I ever imagined I appreciate your voice of reason in these troubled times. Holiday blessings to you and yours!
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Thank you Diane! …and thank you for supporting BATs. We love you!! Merry Christmas!
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Merry Christmas to you. Keep up the good work!🌲
Sent from my iPhone
>
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Happiest of Holidays to you and yours!! Thank you for all your support for public education.
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Thank You for all you do Diane!
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Thank you for your continued support.
May your holidays be happy.
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Thank you, Diane, for all your work on behalf of America’s teachers and children. I have seen you speak in Austin and Washington DC and each time you inspire me to keep teaching and fighting the testing machine. I hope you have a lovely holiday!
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Diane, Thank you for what you are doing for the cause of public education. Whenever I need some fast information on an ed-reform topic, I know your blog is a click away.
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Diane, may you and yours have a wonderful holiday season and a great New Year!
Season’ s greetings to all here too!
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Happy Holidays to you, Diane! I hope your 2015 is a wonderful (and healthy) year. Thank you for all of your BAT support!
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Thank you Diane, & warmest wishes to you and yours. For parents, children, teachers everywhere you are a Kwanzaa light, a Christmas treasure, & most of all a Chanukah gift, our own Judah Maccabee fighting many battles to restore access to a free quality education for every child!
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Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you, Dr. Ravitch. I am so happy I was able to meet you in Tucson. It was well worth the trip from Phoenix. I now also have your book autographed. Thank you so much. My wish for this year is that more people would hear your message either by reading your book or hearing you speak. Have a wonderful holiday with your loved ones.
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Thanks for being an advocate for public education. As a teacher and a BAT I appreciate your support. Merry Christmas!
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Diane, I’m wishing you and yours a happy holiday season and a wonderful 2015! I can’t thank you enough for all you have done to support students, teachers and BATs. Your insights are invaluable, and I appreciate all you do for public education! Love from Michigan!
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From the bottom of my heart and my hard-drive, I thank you for all of your generosity to so many of us.
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… and Merry Festivus for the rest of us! (teeheehee… Seinfeld reference)
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Thank you for your efforts on behalf of our profession and the well being of our students. Wishing you and your family a peaceful and joyous holiday season.
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Thank you so much for being a BAT supporter. Have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.
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You, too, Dr. Ravitch. May it be the best ever.
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Warmest wishes for a peaceful holiday and joyful new year.
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Thank you, Diane, for all that you do. So grateful for you.
-NYC Public School Teacher and NYU graduate
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Diane, thank you for keeping us informed, for fighting the good fight, for supporting teachers, parents, students, and, most of all, for being the passionate voice in America’s education. You are greatly appreciated and there aren’t enough words to express the love and respect we have for you.
Merry Christmas!
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Merry Christmas to you and your family! Thank you for all you do to support public education. Together as educators, parents, and Americans we can fight for the future our children deserve.
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Diane,
Love to you and your family, and you are a prime example of “goodwill towards all people”. . . .
Fondly,
Robert Rendo
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Diane – I wrote to Santa and asked him to bring you good health this year. Let’s hope he got the letter!
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Merry Christmas! You are my hero. Thank you , thank you!!
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You are a gift to all of us here, and to the people of this nation who need someone to tell it as it is…. when talking about what it takes to teach, and where things went south.
Be well. keep truckin’, and have some fun!!!!!
Best
Susan Lee Schwartz
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Happy Hanukkah!
Frohe Weihnachten!
Wishing ALL the strength to carry on.
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And for you as well… May the lights of Hanukkah and the candles of Advent & Christmas usher in for 2015 a better world for all humankind.
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Sincere thanks and the blessings of light to you and yours this holiday season. Your heroic efforts are so appreciated.
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Merry Christmas, Diane! Thank you for supporting teachers and public education! We appreciate you so much!
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Thank you, Dr. Ravitch, for all your support to students , teachers, and public education! As a BAT, I am inspired every day by you and your perseverance. Your talk to BATs, BEARS, & TREE in Nashville this fall was one of the highlights of my life. Thank you again!! Merry Christmas!
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Thank you for your support of BATs, your tireless fight against the privatizing of public education, and wisdom regarding said fight…I wish YOU a happy holiday as well…
kathie larsyn (I finally heard you live in Tucson, and it was a great joy!)
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Diane, you are such a treasure! Thank you so much for all you do for teachers, parents and children. No one is a bigger champion for us than you. Where the national media finds nothing wrong with covering an education story without consulting a single educator, you provide us a voice. Here’s wishing you the happiest of holidays! I can’t wait to continue fighting for my profession and my daughter with your advocacy. Love you!
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Wishing you a Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year, Diane! To your health and happiness, and with deep gratitude for all you do for our profession and the nation’s children.
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Merry Christmas Diane! Keep being the shining beacon that inspires public school teachers across the country.
Dan Leopold, BAT
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Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, Diane. 2014 was quite a year. From down here in Opt Out Lee County, this BAT sends holiday blessings to you!
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Merriest Of Christmases to you too. Thanks for all the support.
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To you as well, and good health in the new year! With much gratitude and admiration,
Jillian Caci ^O^
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Thank you so much for the inspiration! You give me courage every day. Have a wonderful holiday.
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Happy holidays to you and yours, Diane! Thank you for everything you do, even when you are laid up. I hope your knee is improving.
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Back At You! 🙂
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The long version of my happy holiday wishes…
The stockings were hung by the windows with care at Pink Slip Bar & Grille whilst Señor Duane Swacker and I were kicking back a few hearty libations accompanied by some off-color…. er, we were going over some of the finer points of Noel Wilson on quality and quantity and numerical chimeras, cogently and with full use of our faculties parsing his analysis and adding significantly [or so it seemed to us at the time] to his work when the Greek guy came in and asked me if I was going to thank the owner of this blog for creating an online version of her living room.
When I answered in the affirmative, he said he always felt gratified to hear of its success because he felt that it followed some of his basic principles.
How so? “I cannot teach people anything, I can only make them think.”
Ok. Not bad. Anything else? “It is better to change an opinion than to persist in a wrong one.”
Better than ok. Right on target. But doesn’t that get on the wrong side of the sorts of people that run things? I mean, he knows all about what happens when you go up against the establishment.
“My plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a
proof that I am speaking the truth.”
Feeling a little contrary, and wanting to get back to my very stimulating drinking bout with, er, discussion with Señor Swacker, I asked him what the big deal was.
“The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.”
So?
“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”
I was beginning to catch his drift, if you catch my drift…
And right when I was resigned to a deadly dull evening, er, earnest in-depth intellectual encounter, the Greek guy suddenly shifted gears.
He grinned slyly, stood up, and I could see he had on his party toga. His loosened his purse strings, there seemed no end to the drachmas, and so the ouzo and good conversation and camaraderie flowed freely throughout.
Good ole Socrates. He was right…
“Diane Ravitch’s blog A site to discuss better education for all.”
😄
The moral of the story? Is there one? Perhaps—
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” [William Arthur Ward]
So as not to be at fault, most krazy props and heartfelt thanks to the owner of this blog and those close to her this holiday season.
😎
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Thanks for all you do, Diane. Have a pleasant holiday season.
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Diane,
May you have a joyous holiday and a fabulous new year!
Thank you for your courage, insight, and leadership.
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Happy Holidays to you too, Diane, and to all the dedicated teachers who post here!
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We are so fortunate to have you in our corner, Diane. Happy Holidays! ^o^
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Diane, thanks so much for supporting BATS! It means a lot! And you continue to inspire me personally to never give up the fight for America’s children! Happy holidays!
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DIane, Thank you for everything you do, for supporting BATs, and for not drinking the KoolAid 🙂 🙂 !!!!!!!!!!! Happy holidays to you and your family 🙂
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Wishing you, Diane, your family and all who venture here a very magical season.
(And may corporatists and politicians be released from their egocentrism, greed and schadenfreude and awaken with empathy and heart-felt concern for humankind.)
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I adore you. Thank you so much for being the voice of truth. Just yesterday, I had a former student visiting. She’s a senior at Harvard and wants to get into education policy. I told her all about you. And had the pleasure of giving her homework: reading Reign of Error.
I LOVE you. Jeannette Faber
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Peaceful and happy holidays, and a healthy new year to you. Thank you for speaking out on behalf of children and educators across this country.
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Have a very happy Christmas and let 2015 be the best ever! You are an inspiration ♡
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Blessings to you and your family. We treasure the learning community you have created for parents, educators and students.
May you continue to experience improved health in the New Year.
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Thank you for all you do. Merry Christmas! ^0^
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Diane, thank you for your continued and strong advocacy on behalf of children, teachers, and public education. Wishing you good health and peace in the new year.
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The flame of your candle has lit thousands. You are light in this wounded darkness. You are a living testimony for whatever tradition, custom, background you serve. Your humanity crowns you. Thank you.
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Have a wonderful holiday, Diane. Do rest up and keep up that fighting spirit.
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Diane, we appreciate all your support for us in BATS! Your knowledge and wisdom are priceless. Merry Christmas to you and yours!! Stay well and have a wonderful New Year!!!
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And may you have a wonderful holiday also.
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I hope you have the best of holiday time.
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Happy Holidays and Thank You, Diane for being you and providing a space for sanity and truth and justice. Warmest regards to you and yours.
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Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year! Thank you for being such an inspiration to us all!
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Happy & healthy holidays to you & yours, Diane. Your shared knowledge and wisdom has–& will continue to be–the greatest gift to this country’s children, educators, parents and communities.
The same heartfelt wishes to all who come to this site to discuss, to share, to commiserate, to empower & to take positive action. May 2015 be the year we make it right–peace on Earth, freedom, equality & justice for all.
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To all here who labor and advocate for a better education for all, may you be blessed and refreshed during this Christmas. May God give your hearts peace and joy to keep you when we resume our labors. For now, rest, relax, and enjoy the blessing of the day. Dr. Ravitch, thank you for this blog, sharing your virtual living room. With best regards,
Just an Old Teacher
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Happy Holidays to you, Diane!! Thank you so much for being a voice for the children, who need it so dearly. Continue the fight!!
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Happiest of holidays to you, Diane! Your blog and books have helped me find my voice as an elementary teacher! I am standing with you for the students and against corporate reformers.
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Ditto, and best wishes in the New Year.
Thanks for all you do.
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Thank you, Diane, for your insight and support.
Elaine ^O^
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Thank you for all you do for teachers. You are an inspiration. Happy Holidays and a Stellar New Year!
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Thanks for supporting the BATs. Have a happy holiday!
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Hope the holidays give you some peace, relaxation, love and warmth. We appreciate your voice, and efforts.
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Merry Christmas !! May this Christmas brings you a lot of happiness & success in your life!! Happy holidays!!
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I am grateful for your tireless efforts on behalf of children, their schools, and teachers. Your voice of reason is so desperately needed and so thoroughly appreciated. May you have a prosperous and healthful 2015! May you continue to inspire and enlighten us all! Blessings from an Ohio BAT. ^0^
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Same here dear. Merry Christmas!! May God bless you with lots of happiness!! Have a great day!!
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From my family to yours:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.!!!!!
Thanks for all you do. God bless😄
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Happy Holidays to a wonderful educator!
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A GINORMOUS THANK YOU!!! to Diane and all who are being the voices of our public schools!! You are the gift that keeps giving, the light shining during our darkest hour. I share out this website as often as I can to my colleagues and at our monthly union meeting. Almost daily, I tell my students that change begins from the bottom up, and that we can be the change we believe in (apologies to Gandhi).
Stay warm, stay safe, give thanks, and be ready to stand tall after this much-needed down time Bless you all!.
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Can you believe it’s 2015? Remember when 2000 sounded like the future? Best wishes for the holidays. Let’s make next year a great one!
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Or thinking that 1984 was a long way off.
The one veritable truth: The duration of flow continues!!!. . . or is that the flow of duration???
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Happy Holidays to you also. Diane. We are so fortunate to have you fighting for public schools and democracy.
I find it beautiful that people of different ethnicities and religions can share in the spirit of seeking the “divine”. If the “brotherhood of man” were practiced more and “Do unto others” etc etc etc were practiced what a different world this would be.
For myself I have found profound beauty and “truths” in all religions. It is my firm belief that there are more diversities in any one religion which one cares to name than between religions. I find that no one has a monopoly on “truth” nor sadly in bigotry and just as one can find beauty in the foods, faces of ALL ethnicities and religions so too the universalities found in the various heritages if we but open our eyes to those findings.
WAY TOO much bigotry and misunderstandings in the world. We see the divisiveness and resultant warfare in the Near East between Muslim sects themselves and between the many religions stemming from Father Abraham. How tragic.
It is well that at least at one time of the year we share to some degree at least this love for seeking the “ultimate reality” found in our own religious heritage and just maybe between cultures which too often divide us instead of uniting us in the “brotherhood of man”.
God bless us everyone.
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Gordon, thank you for your thoughts on pluralism. As a Jew, I enjoy Christmas, and I feel no hesitation in saying “Merry Christmas.” I light Chanukah lights (using a real oil lamp) for my grandchildren. We should not bury, hide, or neglect our traditions. This is a special time when we think about a world of peace. We can all share that hope, despite the ugly realities of the present world.
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“It is my firm belief that there are more diversities in any one religion which one cares to name than between religions.”
Much the same can be said of another “r” word-races.
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Happy Holidays! Thank you for all you do for kids and teachers.I hope to one day, have the privilege of meeting you in person.
May 2015 be the year of true educational reform!
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Thanks Diane.
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Merry Christmas! From my Classical Latin Classes—Io Saturnalia!
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Thank you for your continuous advocacy for good public education policy in the USA. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you also. ^^0^^
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I am grateful for how God has blessed u w/such a smart brain! Happy Holidays!
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Diane,
May all be well with you and your loved ones not only during this festive time of year but also the rest of the year. May your knee continues to heal. And thanks for all the good that you do for those many of us who fight the daily battles with the insanities of the educational malpractices under which we work.
Mil Gracias,
Duane
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Diane, I have to tell you what a GIFT your blog has been this past year! I wish you good health in 2015 – selfishly – so that your good work continues.
Mary Anne
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Thank you, Diane, for your tireless efforts for kids. Public education needs your voice. This BAT thinks you rock^^o^^
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I wish you a HEALTHY holiday and an even HEALTHIER new year.
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Thank you so much for all your support, advice, wisdom, and strength. It is so empowering knowing you’re in our corner. Merry Christmas, and may the coming year bring us advances in our reclamation of public education. ^0^
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Thank you so much for not censoring your greeting. It is a season of peace, hope and light for ALL!
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