PROTEST REDUX

Beaver County student mistakenly takes fake tax exercise seriously

A middle school assignment this week meant to simulate the Stamp Act of 1765 was apparently misinterpreted by a student in the Big Beaver Falls Area School District, prompting the youngster to rebuke the perceived unfair taxes, just as the Founding Fathers did.

Except this time, the tax was fake.

In a message posted on the district’s Facebook page Tuesday and on the district’s website, officials debunked a letter circulating that described a socalled paper account that would require contributions from parents.

“This letter was taken out of

context, as it is NOT REAL,” superintendent Donna Nugent wrote to parents and families.

“It was a very engaging lesson, and the students truly felt the same frustration as the colonists,” the message said. “They were told this is not real. We truly apologize if this message was misinterpreted by the student.”

The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act of 1765, which required many printed materials in the Colonies to be produced in London, levying a tax on American Colonies. Colonists fiercely resisted the tax and it was repealed less than a year later.

“To reiterate,” Ms. Nugent wrote in the letter, the Big Beaver Falls Area School District “is not charging students for paper.”

Ms. Nugent did not immediately respond to an interview request.

The Beaver County Times first reported the mix-up.

At least one other local middle school teacher employs a similar lesson, which often ignites comparable frustration among students before they realize the tax is fake.

Joe Welch, an eighthgrade teacher in the North Hills School District who was recently named National History Teacher of the Year, has taught a lesson that simulates the lead-up to the Boston Tea Party. He tells students that the district plans to levy a paper tax after a budget shortfall.

‘”I tell them, ‘We had no choice. Our school needs money. It is what it is,’” Mr. Welch told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in September. “But at the end of it, I ask them, ‘How do you feel about this?’ Well, this is how the colonists felt.”