D minus! Father ‘marks’ error-strewn letter he got for taking son out of school
WHEN Daniel Moore took his son out of school for a holiday he was reconciled to paying the £60 fine for skipping lessons.
But after a letter riddled with spelling errors arrived from education chiefs to explain his punishment he could have been forgiven for wondering if any of them could be trusted with his child’s schooling.
Mistakes included ‘hte’, ‘guitly’, ‘notie’ and ‘dteailed’.
Mr Moore, 31, said: ‘I saw a couple of spelling errors as soon as I opened the letter but, as I read on, more mistakes appeared.
‘At first I thought it was quite funny but when you place it into the context that these people are responsible for the future of children’s education it is concerning.’ He added: ‘We took our son out of school for five days to go to Majorca. I was fully aware of the risks but thought it was well worth it for the experience of the holiday. I’ve said that I’ll pay the £60 fine but I just wanted to make sure people could see how sloppy the letter was.’ Mr Moore, a baker from Exmouth, Devon, who went on holiday with his wife Samantha and children Alice and Charlie, put a post on Facebook highlighting the letter sent on behalf of council education chief Dawn Stabb.
The letter threatened to fine him up to £1,000 if payment was not made within a month.
He said: ‘I’m not going to pretend I’m a spelling guru or a typing expert. But I’m also not the head of education in Devon.
‘This woman’s in charge of the future generation’s education – our children’s education – and she’s rubber-stamping this tripe.’ To help the council see the error of its ways, Mr Moore went over the letter with a red pen. At the top, it states: ‘Ensure you read this letter carefully.’ Mr Moore wrote: ‘Touché.’ He graded the council’s work D minus, adding: ‘Must try harder. Head of education in Devon... Come on!’
A council spokesman said: ‘We have been trialling a new IT printing system and a number of mistakes were unfortunately not picked up. It is an embarrassing error and we have taken steps to ensure it won’t be repeated.’
‘Education chief is approving tripe’