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Thursday, November 2, 2006 · Last updated 11:03 a.m. PT
School bus driver fired after obscene gesture at President Bush
By GENE JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEATTLE -- A middle-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 has not been released by the Issaquah School District, was shepherding a busload of middle-school children back from the Seattle zoo on June 16 when the president and Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., drove slowly by in a motorcade along Interstate 5. From the bus, stopped on an onramp, the children waved; with the windows down in their car, Bush and Reichert waved back.
That's when the driver extended the old one-finger salute, 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. "There were many comments and gestures made that day that many people would consider to be offensive. This individual did so around children."
Reichert later called Barry to tell her about the incident, but by the time he got her on the phone, the bus driver had already been fired. District officials had already learned about it because the driver bragged to her colleagues about what she had done, Cadena said.
District spokeswoman Sara 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."
Niegowski said the driver, who had been reprimanded before, has filed a wrongful termination grievance through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union did not return calls seeking comment.
Cadena said the gesture was in poor taste.
"You respect the office, even if you can't respect the man," she said.
School bus driver fired after obscene gesture at President Bush
By GENE JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEATTLE -- A middle-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 has not been released by the Issaquah School District, was shepherding a busload of middle-school children back from the Seattle zoo on June 16 when the president and Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., drove slowly by in a motorcade along Interstate 5. From the bus, stopped on an onramp, the children waved; with the windows down in their car, Bush and Reichert waved back.
That's when the driver extended the old one-finger salute, 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. "There were many comments and gestures made that day that many people would consider to be offensive. This individual did so around children."
Reichert later called Barry to tell her about the incident, but by the time he got her on the phone, the bus driver had already been fired. District officials had already learned about it because the driver bragged to her colleagues about what she had done, Cadena said.
District spokeswoman Sara 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."
Niegowski said the driver, who had been reprimanded before, has filed a wrongful termination grievance through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union did not return calls seeking comment.
Cadena said the gesture was in poor taste.
"You respect the office, even if you can't respect the man," she said.
:fucku2: 
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