Posted on 12/19/2006 3:55:01 AM PST by Kaslin
A Commack school bus driver was ordered to remove his seasonal hat after one complaint, but he later won approval.
A Commack School District bus driver says he nearly lost his job because he refused to take off his Santa Claus cap while driving his route.
With his long white beard and generous midriff, 65-year-old Kenneth Mott bears more than a passing resemblance to St. Nick. The Bayport resident says he has been wearing his furry red-and-white hat every December since he started working for the Baumann and Sons bus company, which transports students in the Commack School District, five years ago.
But after Mott completed his morning route on Thursday, shuttling kids to Rolling Hills Primary School and Commack Middle School, he said his supervisors at Baumann and Sons called and demanded that he take off his Santa hat.
Mott said he was told that a parent of a child complained to the district about Mott's headgear, saying that the child doesn't believe in Santa Claus and was bothered by the hat.
"I said, 'What, are you kidding me?,'" Mott recalled. "I thought it was a big joke."
He resolved to keep his hat on that afternoon.
"Nobody is going to tell me what I can do and can't do," said Mott, who added that he doesn't pretend to be Santa Claus while driving, nor does he play Christmas carols or decorate his bus. "This is America. I'm not hurting anybody."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Were I the owner of the transport company, I would have told the complaining parents to go f... themselves and have a Very Merry Christmas too! What a crock! Some folks really need to get a life.
This sounds "made up."
Ken Mott, a school driver for Bauman Bus Company, was told to remove the hat due to a complaint. The company has since settled the situation and Mott will again wear his Santa hat while driving.
They should also make him shave and ditch the specs. Way too Santa looking.
My husband is an Orthodox rabbi, and has a white fluffy beard and is what you would call "portly."
He wears a black hat and a black coat but when he goies out to the supermarket or the pharmacy little kids are always staring at him.
He smiles back and says, "Santa always knows when you are naughty or nice!"
there are just so many panty waists here on Long Island, it makes real folks want to vomit. BTW I graduated from Commack HS 40 years ago....and believe me when I say things have changed.
I would move in a NY Minute if my wifes family werent sick.
Good grief. We have students and teachers wearing Santa hats and reindeer antlers and all sorts of goofy Christmas hats. Those whiners need to get over themselves.
"Don't tread on me."
It is just a design on the serpent skin (taken from the USMC Gadsden flag)
I am also a life long Lawng Guylander and was wondering if you noticed more Christmas lights on houses this year then prior.
My town is loaded this year. Very nice to see.
I wonder how old this child is ..
My husband and I are already in conflict about Santa - whether to tell our child that he's fiction right off the bat, but still do presents and enjoy the holiday. I want to make sure the holidays are still fun, I mean, a 4 year old can't truly comprehend what the birth of our Savior Jesus means, I don't think. So Santa kind of makes the holiday magical. I don't know. But I don't think our child would be 'offended' by a Santa hat, unless we taught him/her to act like that. (Are you listening, parents who complained?!?!?)
PS: this is a premature argument, as I'm only 12 weks pregnant. LOL.
I think it's about time people stand up to those dictators
we didnt put our light up till this past Sunday, but jeeze the people on my block had them up BEFORE thanksgiving....and Lots and Lots of them...along with all those new fangled inflatable snow globes, bumbble snow monsters, scooby doo with a santa hat, etc etc......plus Santa came by on the Fire Truck a couple of times already....makes the dogs go nuts....
This sounds like a lie. The parent was bothered by the hat and is only using the kid as a method to attack the bus driver.
Also, how come the schools first reaction was to discipline the bus driver and deny his First Amendment rights?
Because the bus driver didn't threaten a lawsuit first??
This story goes well with the story of the guy who got kicked out of Disney because he looked too much like Santa Claus (and dressed the part, I think they told him he had to change his clothes).
"Paper or Plastic"? :0
Reference to story I heard yesterday that someone is putting Arabic signs up in New York I think with banal phrases on them, to "raise awareness".
One of the phrases was "Paper or Plastic", and I immediately thought "Paper", because plastic explosives are a lot more powerful.
Some of these people need to get over themselves. What the he . . ck is wrong with a 65 year-old man wearing a Santa hat while driving a school bus??
Unless there is a specific uniform he must wear on the job or a dress code that prohibits wearing hats, he was perfectly within his rights.
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