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Eileen Dover: Henrico County Public Schools gets pranked Bart Simpson style

School board meeting goes viral as video emerges of chair calling out suspicious names, who don't appear before he realises what's going on

It's been a tough year for students, teachers, and administrators. Learning from home means kids are missing out on some key aspects of school life. Well, as the US reopens schools, some enterprising students (or parents?) found a way to let off some steam, inspired by 'The Simpsons'. As a now-viral video shows, someone pranked the Henrico County Public Schools, by listing a rather unfortunate set of names at their public meeting on August 26. 

With the tough couple of years everyone is having, many people have gone viral for their hilarious, and sometimes outrageous pranks. In July, comedian Walter Masterson went viral after pranking Reps Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, while the duo was at a beach in California. Unfortunately for Gaetz, he seems to be a popular target for pranksters. On Memorial Day, he was pranked into tweeting a photo of Lee Harvey Oswald, along with Dinesh D'Souza and Matt Schlapp. 

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Not all pranks have gone according to plan though. In July, a New York DoorDash driver was fired for messing with an NYPD officer's order, which he defended as a "prank gone wrong". That doesn't seem to be the case at Henrico County though, whoever came up with the prank not only managed to see it go viral but also remain anonymous (for now). It certainly feels like an episode right out of 'The Simpsons'.

Who is Eileen Dover?

Here's what happened. On August 26, the school board in Henrico County, Virginia held a public meeting. As is custom, members of the public signed up to speak for the meeting. Amongst them included Phil McCraken, Suck Mahdick, Ophelia McCaulk, Eileen Dover, Don Kedick, and Wayne Kerr. Of course, none of these people were real and thus didn't show up. Their names were called by the chair Roscoe Cooper before he realized what was happening.

At one point, Cooper realizes what is going on and appears to briefly shake his head. He then continues on and calls on an Aaron Sorkin. Cooper ends the session by thanking the lone speaker to show up. The entire meeting is over three hours long, but the one-minute section of Cooper calling on the made-up names quickly went viral, much to the delight of many social media users. Cooper on the other hand, just continues as if nothing ever happened. 

It's unclear who the mastermind behind this prank is, but whoever it is must be having a hearty laugh. Not only did it go viral, but it has caught a lot of attention online, especially the name Eileen Dover. As the below reaction show, Twitter users got a hearty laugh at Cooper's expense.  But before that, enjoy the video posted by one user who commented, "Lol School board getting wrecked by a real life Bart Simpson. They aren’t the brightest are they." 

'So proud of the kids'

"The most g-rated was probably the funniest: Eileen Dover," one person said. Another tweeted, "Sitting on my couch drinking a fresca and figuring out whether "Bishop Sycamore" or "Eileen Dover" made me laugh harder today. I am 32 years and 9 months old." One user commented, "My cousin ty school board. I’m so proud of the kids that did this. Eileen Dover."

One user joined in, joking, "Eileen Dover couldn't make it, but her husband Ben Dover was there. I saw him." Another said, "It usually starts at Eileen Dover but my stomach hurts from laughing by the end of this." One person tweeted, "How he didn’t catch on by Eileen Dover is beyond me."

One user, aptly named Eileen Dover joined in the fun, tweeting, "I miss one school board meeting and now it’s trending." A user tweeted, "Eileen Dover has me in tears this is amazing."

According to some parents, students were responsible for the prank on the school board. Who they are, we shall probably never know, but one thing we can say for sure is that they have made Bart Simpson proud! At the time of reporting, Eileen Dover was trending at #17 and Wayne Kerr at #19 on Twitter in the US.