MalloryKeaton

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRe...rticleid=60321

PC On Earth For Santa: Boy Claus Booted Out Of N.H. School Dance

A 12-year-old New Hampshire boy who wanted to jolly up his junior high dance by dressing in a Santa suit instead got a lesson in political correctness when his Scroogelike principal turned the student away, fearing he might offend his classmates.

"I go by the principal and he asked me what I was wearing. I said a Santa suit and he shakes his head,'' recalled Hampton Academy Junior High student Bryan Lafond.

To make matters worse, Principal Fred Muscara sent the preteen home from the holiday dance by himself to change into more secular attire. His mother spotted her son in the rearview mirror as she drove away.

"He was crying, he was upset,'' Leslie Lafond said. ``He did it all to be Santa, to make people smile and laugh. That's what Santa does.''

The sorry Santa saga started with a $30 suit the jovial youngster bought at a Brooks pharmacy to wear at one of his first school dances. Not once, Bryan said, did he think he would be offending anyone.

Neighborhood pal Nick McGrail recalled, "He said it's a Christmas dance and I'm going to dress up as a Santa to cheer everyone up.''

Lafond broke her own vow to stop talking publicly about the case after reading that Superintendent James Gaylord described her son's transgression as not dressing up enough.

She said her son was allowed to re-enter the dance in a T-shirt and the principal was clear about why he was booting Bryan.

"We were told by the principal that night that he had to be sensitive to other religions at the school,'' she said.

That surprised fellow seventh-grader May Pickard, since she remembered holiday tunes at the party, including the one about St. Nick's prize reindeer.

"They played `Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' at the dance,'' she said.

Neither Muscara nor Gaylord returned phone calls, but the district education chief told The Union Leader that Bryan was kicked out of the dance for not living up to the dress code. He described it as requiring students to wear "good clothes.''

Others weren't buying that line.

"It's sad, the political correctness has spread into the school system,'' said parent Kim Morse as she waited for her child outside the school.

"I didn't think it should have been a big deal,'' said student Shannyn Olivier.

"It's just a big fat man in a red suit,'' said her mom, Laurie Olivier.

Sparrowhawk

Other religions?! Santa isn't religious!

Roswellgirl1001

That's just upsetting. I don't think Santa offends anyone! Jeez, the next thing you know, there won't be a Santa at the mall because its not "politically correct."

No1important

I never considered Santa as a religious figure. The PC police seem to be getting out of hand lately.

mh67511

Oh for crying out loud. He should have returned dressed as Jesus or a wiseman! I wonder how the principal would like that. If someone gets offended by Santa well then...no comment.

California_ here_ I _come

You took the words right out of my mouth...

LittleMilkJug

The red fat Santa as we know him started out as an old Christmas Coca Cola advert, right? That's not very religious in my book.

In Fair Verona

I think everybody just needs to get over it, from both sides and just stop whining about what other people do because not everybody is going to agree with you. Deal with it! Jeez. Poor kid. It's not like he thought to himself, "I'm going off to enforce Christianity upon the kids at my school dance!".

The Survivor

Doesn't the principal have anything better to do then to dismiss a kid from his school for dressing as a loveable character to children so he could make his classmates laugh and smile? I bet the only one who was probably offended by the outfit was the principal himself. Then again who gets offended by Santa Claus?

- Jen -

i had heard that too, but it's not true

Seraphina

Sigh...I mean...Sinterklaas in my country (the Netherlands) doesn`t even have any religious meaning anymore and we all know where he came from, so why on earth would Santa be a religious figure (I mean, his backstory is filled with urban legends and stuff). That principal is seeing things...

*sigh* poor kid...

LUv,

Nettie.

PS:

wamdue

if the dance was a x-mas dance, why was there anyone of another religion there to "offened"

infact why was there an x-mas dance at all?

wanderer78

If he's in NH, probably not.

DDD

If he did dress up as a wise man or Moses then or Joesph the no one should be offended either.

TokyoNiGHTS

Those are religious figures.