Pennsylvania teacher in hot water after addressing student's letter to 'Hiliar' Clinton

Matthew Diebel | USA TODAY

A central Pennsylvania teacher addressed an 11-year-old student’s letter to Hillary Clinton as “Hiliar Rodham Clinton,” saying it was “kind of a joke,” according to local media.

The teacher, Benjamin Attinger, later apologized to the student for the misspelling, which occurred after sixth-grader Mary Reinard asked him last week to address the letter to the former presidential candidate and first lady, reported the Sunbury Daily Item.

Mary told the paper that she wrote the letter because Clinton was a hero and came after she read a story on the Internet about Clinton imagining she is communicating with the dead, including such people as Eleanor Roosevelt, as a therapeutic release.

Having lost a baby sister a few years ago, Mary wanted to know if it was true and asked Attinger for assistance in sending the letter.

After Mary completed the letter, Attinger, who works at Sunbury's Shikellamy Middle School, said he would find Clinton’s address and he wrote it on an envelope that the youngster took home to be mailed. That is when Mary’s stepmother, Shannon Reinard, noticed the all-caps misspelling, which read “HILIAR RODHAM CLINTON.”

Shannon Reinard, 35, and her husband, Shawn, 38, told The Daily Item that they were upset that politics entered the classroom.

"He can write a letter himself and call her a liar," Shannon Reinard said. "Don't channel it through my 11-year-old daughter."

Shawn Reinard told the paper he was angered by the episode. "Whether I agree or not, you keep that out of school,” he said. “His student asked him for help, and he failed as a teacher. At minimum, he owes my little girl a public apology."

Shawn Reinard said he didn't vote in the presidential election but said he would have supported Donald Trump. Shannon Reinard said she voted for Clinton.

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The mother and daughter, who said they did not want Attinger fired, met with the teacher and school officials on Tuesday. Attinger did not immediately respond to calls from The Daily Item.

Officials from Shikellamy School District wouldn't comment, saying the incident was a personnel issue, according to local TV station WNEP.

Meanwhile, Mary Reinard did get a response — from a Clinton. On Wednesday, Chelsea Clinton reached out to the family.

When the former first daughter learned of the story, The Daily Item reported, she tweeted a message to her followers: "If anyone knows how to reach Mary Reinard’s parents, please let them know I’m happy to hand-deliver Mary’s letter to my mom @HillaryClinton."

Clinton and Shannon Reinard later spoke via Twitter using direct messages and confirmed that the letter with the corrected address. According to the paper, Clinton told her they would be "looking out for it."

"Please thank Mary for her courage," Chelsea Clinton wrote to her via Twitter.