Posted on 11/02/2006 12:14:21 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
SEATTLE — A school bus driver fired after she reportedly made an obscene gesture at President Bush has filed a union grievance in an attempt to get her job back. The 43-year-old driver, whose name was not released, was driving middle school children back to school after a zoo visit on June 16 when the president and Republican Rep. Dave Reichert drove slowly by in a motorcade. From the bus, the children waved; with the windows down in their car, Bush and Reichert waved back.
That's when the driver gave the president the finger, according to Reichert and Issaquah superintendent Janet Barry. "The congressman hadn't seen it, but the president turned to him and said, 'That one's not a fan,' " said Reichert spokeswoman Kimberly Cadena. Reichert later called Barry to tell her about the incident, but the bus driver had already been fired. District officials learned about the incident after the driver boasted to colleagues about it, Cadena said.
District spokeswoman Sara Niegowski said the driver has filed a wrongful termination grievance through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union did not return calls seeking comment. Niegowski said the firing was not politically motivated. "The bus driver was not terminated for making an obscene gesture at the president. The bus driver was terminated for making an obscene gesture in view of the students," Niegowski said. "That's not the role modeling we need for our students."
I hope you are kidding.
With free speech goes responsibility ...
I may not like her chosen method of articulation, but the government has no business punishing her for articulating political speech.
Absolutely true. But responsibility cannot be enforced by a municipal employer.
LOL, you have to like that response. If it were Clinton he would have been outraged and demanded the bus drivers head.
The irony is her employer wouldn't have been any he wiser if she hadn't been bragging about it. I like the statement by the President, "That one's not a fan."
"So much for free speech."
Actually, Bush's joking comment is a great example of her right to free speech. However, her employer no doubt has certain rules that she needs to follow.
And regardless of her "setting an example" for the kids, from a safety standpoint I don't think it wise to have a bus driver that flips off other people that annoy her. One would hope that another angry motorist would not take out their road rage on a school bus whose driver flipped them off, but you never know.
BTW - Seattle, although known for politeness in shops, etc. has a greater than average incidence of road rage.
If a public school bus driver should flip off anybody while on duty he should get canned.
Really? An employer, municipal or not, doesn't have the right and obligation to enforce standards of behavior? Especially when that behavior is in front of children?
As do I. That's the right approach. Not firing her.
But that gesture is as integral to driving as the turn signal!
You are going to flunk the bar, my friend. You need the read the facts carefully before answering the question.
She was not fired because it was the president she was flipping off. She was fired because she flipped someone off. Anyone. It could have been me. It could have been you. It could have been anyone. School bus drivers do not have the freedom to flip off anyone while they are driving children to and from the school. If they do, they should... no, they MUST be fired.
I hope a question like this doesn't come up on your bar exam. Make sure you know the facts fully before you start writing.
Oh, come on. There's not a middle-schooler alive who hasn't seen the middle finger. Many of them indiscriminately drop that word in every-day conversation.
"So much for free speech."
Whatever. Should I be entitled to make an obscene gesture to my supervisor at work, and pay no price for it? Am I entitled to that gesture?
Got a cite for either of these propositions?
That's insubordination; this is political speech.
Apporoximately every forthieth thread is now on this topic.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1730988/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1730974/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1730904/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1730773/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1730288/posts
There is also not a middle schooler alive that hasn't heard the f word, but does that make it right for a bus drive to incorporate that into their language around children on their bus. I'm sorry, but that's a very weak argument.
Did you even read the story?
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