Teacher Who Said Santa Not Real Apologizes

She told her second-graders Santa wasn't real and it was their parents putting presents under the tree

The Rockland County elementary school teacher who drew outrage when she reportedly told a classroom of second-graders that Santa didn't exist is apologizing.

The New York Post reports Leatrice Ann Eng, 58, has been calling each of the students' parents to apologize for telling their children Santa Claus wasn't real.

Eng, a teacher at Nanuet's George W. Miller Elementary School, was holding a geography lesson last Tuesday when the 7-year-olds said they knew about the North Pole because that's where Santa resided, LoHud.com reported.

She responded by telling them that Santa did not exist and that Christmas presents were bought by their parents.

School officials didn't immediately respond to questions about the matter, but the incident made national headlines and sparked heated discussion over the teacher's place in breaking a popular childhood fantasy.

"It's sad; she was wrong," Irene Hoffman, a mother of three students at the school, told the New York Post. "The whole thing is being blown out of proportion. I think we should focus on our children's education, and just move on." 

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