Over the past week rumors surfaced on the Internet that the Boston Public School (BPS) system was eliminating its History and Social Studies department. A petition was posted online that went viral throughout the historical community. On May 23, BPS issued a statement to the effect that an upcoming reorganization had been misinterpreted stating that the history department was indeed not being eliminated or folded into English Language Arts. On May 28, 2014, the National Coalition for History sent a letter to the Superintendent of BPS seeking assurances that this was indeed the case.