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AISD Afterschool Teacher Tells Student Santa Isn't Real; Parents Furious


The Austin Independent School District issued a statement Wednesday after the parents of a child at Pease Elementary School became furious with an afterschool teacher for telling their child Santa Claus isn’t real.

The parents say it’s not the teacher’s place to tell the students their belief isn’t right.

The school’s principal released the following statement -

AISD teachers deeply respect family traditions and celebrations. We are disappointed to learn, that as the holiday season approaches, any student will enter it with a little less magic.

Our afterschool, childcare provider is relatively new to the education field and we will use this as an opportunity to help her learn how to address such conversations differently in the future.

The matter will be addressed internally. Due to FERPA and privacy concerns, the district is unable to provide a response with any information that would identify a student.

In some media accounts of the incident, there has been a reference to an unrelated, science lesson taught earlier this semester in which students were asked to classify living and nonliving items. When a student presented a toy with an image of Santa on it, the teacher explained the toy was not a living item.

I thank the Pease school community for their continued support of our teachers and students.