Student Wears Santa Getup, Suspended for Facebook “Surprise” Post

Newtown panic is affecting many Americans, and one 16-year-old boy from Crawford County, Georgia has gotten suspended in the midst of it all.

John George III prepared to wear a Santa costume to school, honoring his Christmas tradition. He wrote his Crawford County High School classmates on Facebook that he was about to surprise them at class, and his post got him into a lot of trouble.

“Students of CCHS in for a big surprise tomorrow. .,” John wrote.

According to the Middle Georgia Telegraph, the statement did not go over too smoothly with one concerned parent, who called authorities to the student's home in Roberta.

He explained his intentions to the officers that came to visit him, on Tuesday, December 18, and the matter appeared to be resolved.

“The prank was that he was going to dress up in a Santa outfit. [...] We didn’t find any wrongdoing, so we turned it over to the school,” Police Department Captain Trent Anderson notes.

School officials were not as lenient. They suspended John, and will be holding a hearing to discuss his case after the Christmas break.

They argue they acted accordingly, as they have to respond to any possible threats, in light of the Sandy Hawk massacre, in which 20 students in an elementary school have been killed.

“If I had to do it over again, we’d do the same thing, just to be cautious. [..] If we knew about this ahead of time, and we did nothing, and something happened,” Superintendent John Douglas explains.

The suspension lead to rumors, in which John is being compared to Adam Lanza, the Connecticut shooter.

“We’re not trying to hurt this kid. [...] We want to make a learning experience out of this. We want all of us to learn a little something. Everyone’s got to be more sensitive to what’s going on around us,” school reps respond.