Austin, TX—The Austin Independent School District released the following statement from Donna Martinez, principal at Pease Elementary School, regarding an afterschool, childcare provider’s conversation with a student about the existence of Santa Claus:

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.

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