Asst. principal asks school staff for donations to pay illegal immigrant student’s ‘coyote’

‘Not a hack or a misrepresentation or a joke’

A Rhode Island high school vice principal recently sent an email to school staff asking them to donate cash to an illegal immigrant student … so that the student’s “coyote” could get paid.

A “coyote” is someone who helps immigrants cross into the U.S. — illegally — for a fee.

Mount Pleasant High School Assistant Principal Stefani Harvey’s email (pictured) reads “We have a student who came to America with ‘Coyote,’ which is a group that helps people. This group gives a time frame to make a payment of $5,000 to those who bring them into the States.”

A highlighted portion reads “Our student needs our urgent support to raise another $2,000 to meet his goal of $5,000 by February 1st, 2023.”

There was some speculation that Harvey’s email was bogus or had been hacked; however, Maribeth Calabro, president of the local teachers union, confirmed that school staff “realized quite quickly that it was not a hack or a misrepresentation or a joke,” National Review reports.

Mount Pleasant Principal Tiffany Delaney addressed the email on Friday, writing “I was informed there was an email seeking financial support for one of our students. I appreciated the faculty and staff contributing to a cause that supports a student, but the nature of the request is not appropriate.”

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Delaney also noted any funds already donated by staff would be returned.

Calabro said of Harvey’s message that she was “a little taken aback by the content” and noted she had “engaged” with Providence Public Schools administrators who “went into immediate investigatory mode,” the Daily Mail reports.

Nicole Solas, who posted screencaps of the emails on Twitter, asked of Principal Delaney’s response: “Does ‘not appropriate’ mean illegal?”

“This could have serious federal criminal law implications and any teacher who receives this email should immediately notify the union as to how to deal with it,” Solas tweeted. “They may have an obligation legally to report it to the police.”

According to a tweet from the New York Young Republican Club, Assistant Principal Harvey is new to Mount Pleasant HS, having come from “several building and central office administrative roles” in Boston’s public schools. Her now-defunct Twitter account bio reads “Black educator, queer, activist, poetry, Roxbury bred save our streets, dismantle school to prison pipeline.”