Dear educators and members of BPAA, 

 

One of the many reasons we love Thanksgiving is because it almost forces us to stop, look in both directions, and thank the people in our lives: family, colleagues, and friends. We also take a moment to be thankful for our role as educators and leaders. 

On behalf of the BPAA Board of Directors, we also want to stop, look both ways, and be thankful for YOU:  for bringing “normalcy” to so many families, for being the calming element amidst a storm, for dignifying students and appeasing teachers’ and staff’s anxieties, and lastly, for not knowing when to say no and sacrificing yourself.  Your approach to service is NOT thankless.  Indeed, it is a very much appreciated set of selfless and ethics-based principles.  For all those humanizing attitudes, we say THANK YOU! GRACIAS! MERCI!  

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We wish you and your families Happy Thanksgiving.  This year is particularly poignant as so many of us are separated from loved ones and worrying about the future and how this world will spin on its axis into the New Year.  So, please, it is our hope that you pay particular attention and time with your own parents: call them, express your love and pride in them, reminisce with them, and bring a smile to their faces.    

 

Our message is a simple one: give love in every moment and be grateful for whoever gives love to you.  We have been stripped down to our very core elements and that is not always a bad thing.  We have an opportunity to create something brand new, new perspectives, new opportunities, new ways to help our children learn and live.   

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YOU MATTER and you are the reason so many continue on and refuse to give up or give in to the resignation of failure. You are that loyal friend who puts his/her hand on the shoulder and says: “We are going to get through this together.”   We celebrate you and extend our warmest wishes to you and your families during this holiday season!!!!   

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Most sincerely, 

Washington B. Collado, PhD.                                                

BPAA President  

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Lisa Maxwell                                                                     

BPAA Executive Director