Los Alamitos school retracts 'homework buyout' fundraiser

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. (KABC) -- Administrators at a local school are retracting an offer for parents to participate in a "homework buyout," after Eyewitness News began investigating.

The program would have allowed parents to pay for their child to take a week off of their homework.

A parent with a 4th grader attending Richard Henry Lee Elementary School in Los Alamitos was outraged when her son came home with a flier about the program.

The flier said her son could get out of homework for a week - if she paid $100.

"I'm furious because I don't have $100, first of all, to give to the school," said the mother, who wanted to remain anonymous.

Project Leap is running the $100 "homework buyout" fundraiser with the money going back into the classroom.

"I feel bad for my son because he was like, 'Mom, can we do it?' and I'm like, 'I'm not going to let a teacher or a school bribe my kid and teach him the wrong thing. It's not morally correct to say, hey give $100 and you don't have to do your work," she said.

Eyewitness News called the district to ask about the program. They said they'd never heard about it until our call, but because of our call, they are ending it.

"We love our fundraising groups and have amazingly supportive parents but we absolutely cannot raise money by having parents pay for having no homework for their specific student," said Sherry Kropp, the superintendent of the Los Alamitos Unified School District, in a statement.

Robert Briggerman, the principal of Richard Henry Lee Elementary School, agreed, saying the fundraiser sends out the wrong message that academics have a dollar value. He said the fundraiser is being pulled, and that parents who participated will receive a refund.