Claim: Letter from high school offers to allow students to make monetary donations to offset inatttendance and poor grades.
Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2013]
There is a picture of a copy of a letter circulating, allegedly from a prominent suburban Chicago high school initiating an "Earned Academic Rewards Network" program whereby students can make monetary donations to offset tardyies, absences, homework assignments and/or test scores:
Origins: This image of a purported letter from
Illinois, began circulating on the Internet on
On 10 July 2013, administrators posted a notice on the school's Facebook page advising inquirers that the letter was a hoax:
There is a fake Stevenson letter being circulated via social media, claiming students can pay donations for excusing tardies and homework, receiving extra credit, and test exemptions. This is a hoax, and IS NOT a Stevenson letter, program, or from a Stevenson employee. This is not something the District would ever endorse.
Apparently the letter was not intended as a prank, but was something created as a teaching tool for a history class:
Stevenson teachers have used the letter for "many, many years" to teach a unit on medieval Rome in world history classes, he said.
[Eric Twadell, superintendent of Stevenson High School District 125, said,] "It turned out a teacher had created [the letter] and used it as a modern-day example of what papal indulgences may look like [today] compared to 500 years ago in the medieval realm. People would pay off the Pope for ridiculous things ... I think (the teacher) used it as an illustrative tool."
Last updated: 10 July 2013
 | Sources: |
Black, Lisa. "Fake Letter Was Teaching Tool, District 125 Official Says." Chicago Tribune. 13 July 2013.