A school bus driver for the Issaquah School District in Seattle, WA was terminated due to an incident where she flipped President Bush the ‘bird’ as his motorcade was passing by the bus.

The bus driver was transporting a bus load of children on their way back from a field trip when they were stopped by a motorcade carrying the President and Congressman Dave Reichert. The President proceeded to wave to the school children and was reportedly met with an obscene gesture when he reached the front of the bus.

The school was informed of the incident almost immediately by other school employees and the incident was also reported to school administration by a campaign manager for Reichert. The driver was terminated shortly after the incident for “responsibility of an employee who is supervising students to act professionally and serve as a role model for appropriate behavior.” According to Superintendent Janet Barry. “This was part of a pattern of behavior with this particular bus driver, not an isolated incident.”

Needless to say, the bus driver has filed a union lawsuit for “wrongful termination” I guess in her world, you should be able to do anything no matter how inappropriate in front of school children. and is appealing her firing. Among her claims is the not too surprising accusation that the only person to see the offending gesture was President Bush, regardless of the fact that school staff had seen the act and notified the proper authorities and that Bush himself never notified anyone but Reichert.

The superintendent also noted that this has nothing to do with politics but that “If the bus driver had made the gesture to a driver who cut her off on a local road, we would have taken the same action.”