“It’s always about people.” So goes one of the more famous quotations attributed to nonviolent activist Cesar Chavez. Of course, we’re relatively certain that Mr. Chavez didn’t have parents of children at a Washington charter school which bears his name when he made that enlightened statement.
Parents of students at Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy were surprised when their children brought home a memo, printed on school letterhead, which outlined some “important changes in the financial situation of the school” effective next Monday, including a $2 fee to bring in outside food for lunch, a five-cent charge on each piece of paper students use, bathrooms that cost a dollar to access, forcing chaperones on students who want to meet with other students after school and housing “highly qualified” teacher recruits in parents’ homes.
Of course, the memo isn’t real — it was part of a history lesson plan about the American Revolution, designed to give students a modern-day example of the taxes the British were placing on residents in the colonies. (NBCWashington.com notes that one parent got upset about the note because her daughter wasn’t paying attention in class and didn’t realize it was part of the lesson.) Some people, though, didn’t quite get the point of the exercise; several “very angry” people actually forwarded the memo to the office of Tommy Wells requesting the Councilmember look into the situation. We’re curious: was a Washington Paper Party ever in the works?
The memo, in all its glory:
