Have you heard the one about the 9-year-old California student who was suspended from school after he said 'Merry Christmas' to his outspoken atheist teacher?

It turns out, it was a fake news story about a real school in San Francisco and after going viral, it caused quite a stir.  The story first appeared in the National Report, which is a parody publication online that produces fake news stories.  After the story went live, several websites picked it up, many of them Conservative, causing an uproar over what is being called yet another example of the 'War on Christmas.'

 Timothy Dawson, a 9-year-old student at Anon Elementary School in San Francisco, CA., was in the school cafeteria Monday eating with friends when he was taken to the principal's office and given a week-long suspension. His punishment was consequence for saying 'Merry Christmas' to his homeroom teacher earlier that morning.

The student, teacher, school and story are all fake; however, as word traveled, the name of the school quickly became the 'Argonne Elementary School' which is a real school and that ultimately caused real problems.

The school was inundated with letters, emails and phone calls, in some cases with irate people, mostly from out of state, who ridiculed the schools policy.  The District was forced to add extra security and put someone on the phone to explain to people that none of the story is real.

This is yet another example of the news running with inaccurate news, all in an effort to get the story first!

Here's the Snopes version of the story.

More From WIBX 950