S.F. school bears brunt of 'merry Christmas' Atheist suspension hoax [View all]
Did you know a San Francisco elementary school suspended a student for wishing an atheist teacher a merry Christmas?
No?
That's because it didn't happen.
But an Internet hoax had people across the country believing it did, resulting in e-mail tirades and more than 75 phone complaints and veiled threats of violence against the fictitious teacher or the actual principal. And taxpayers picked up the tab for beefed-up security and staff time to deal with the phony story.
Because of the threats, Argonne elementary school administrators called an emergency teacher meeting to review security procedures and district officials assigned an extra security officer to the campus. In addition, police have increased patrols around the school this week, said district Assistant Superintendent Leticia Salinas.
The rumor originated about six days ago on what appears to be a satirical website called the National Report, which features content designed to look like real news stories.
A story on the site said a fourth-grader at "Argon Elementary" in San Francisco was given a weeklong suspension for saying "merry Christmas" to his homeroom teacher, an atheist. The site later changed the school name to "Anon."
Neither "Argon" nor "Anon" is a real school in the city.
The story also named the boy, the boy's mother and the teacher - none of whom exist.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-school-bears-brunt-of-merry-Christmas-hoax-5073194.php
The nasty calls and e-mails started to hit the real Argonne elementary on Thursday and have continued this week, district officials said.
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