Jasper
12-24-04, 10:17 AM
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.
``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.