The letter circulating Live Oak High School looks realistic.
It’s printed on what appears to be Morgan Hill Unified School
District letterhead. Its syntax and format certainly reads like a
letter parents might receive from school
– though the contents, which informed parents they would have to
pay money for such things as textbooks, $1 for a hall pass and even
$10 desk use – were just part of a history lesson on taxation
without representation.
Morgan Hill – The letter circulating Live Oak High School looks realistic. It’s printed on what appears to be Morgan Hill Unified School District letterhead.
Its syntax and format certainly reads like a letter parents might receive from school – though the contents, which informed parents they would have to pay money for such things as textbooks, $1 for a hall pass and even $10 desk use – were just part of a history lesson on taxation without representation.
“It’s handed out in a U.S. history class as a rouse, and the teacher goes over it with the kids. They read it and realize it’s nonsense, this is extreme. This is stuff we can’t be taxed for or charged for,” LOHS Principal Lloyd Webb said Friday.
The letter caused some agitation and slight confusion from a few parents who received the letter (per the teacher’s request to discuss it at home) and did not realize it was fake. Webb said the assignment doesn’t often befuddle parents or students.
“I remember getting it and having a discussion at home (with my child). It’s a great contextual lesson,” Webb said.
The all-inclusive one-period history assignment is done so students can place the seriousness of being taxed without a vote as was done during the Revolutionary period in terms that they can relate to.
Webb said the assignment has been a part of the history teacher’s curriculum for nine years and the letter isn’t really asking that parents pay their child’s way through public school.
Superintendent Wes Smith confirmed Thursday that the letter wasn’t sent from his office, though it was signed by a “Dr. Wesley Smyth.”
“Of course it’s not true. They did not even spell my name correctly,” Smith said.
