EAST BRUNSWICK — A student who faked a letter from his district's superintendent will serve time — the same time that the school official spent trying to address the phony message that purported to support vaping on school grounds.

The joke letter written on East Brunswick district letterhead and with Superintendent Victor Valeski's signature said that the school was going to allow students to take one hit of an e-cigarette each day in a school bathroom under the new  a "EB One (Hit) Initiative."

A student came forward and admitted to authoring the letter, copies of which were left around the school. Attention to the letter ramped up when it was posted to social media, forcing Valeski to respond publicly to clear the air.

The superintendent said that "sanctions" have been imposed on the student, including loss of membership in school clubs and a possible suspension.

"I kept track of all the time I invested trying to tell people that this was not an accurate document," Valeski  said. "And, of course, all the time reporting it out to the news outlets that found it interesting. I'm going to go back to the student with that accounting of time and say, basically, you're going to owe me public service time or that equivalent and we have to come up with a plan for what you're going to do with that."

Township police took the initial report about the incident and offered assistance with the investigation.

"I think the student is remorseful for what they did," Valeski said, adding that the teen thought the letter was something funny.

"I hope to teach the student that this one action you took, it literally took the better part of two and a half days of my time to explain to people it was not my writing. It was not my document," Valeski said.

The identity of whoever wrote a second second letter, also on school letterhead and with Valeski's signature, remains under investigation. The second letter said that Valeski had tried vaping and decided to lift bans on their use at school, according to a copy of the letter obtained by MyCentralJersey.com.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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