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5th grader told to remove Hooters face mask in class

By Valerie Boey
Updated  September 17, 2020 10:44am EDT
FOX 35 Orlando

Student told to remove Hooters mask

A father is expressing frustration after his son was removed from a classroom because he wore a face mask with Hooters restaurant branding, which was deemed inappropriate.

ORLANDO, Fla. - A fifth-grade student was told not to wear his Hooters face mask in class, because it violates the Student Code of Conduct.

Ian Golba, 11, has been wearing a mask from Hooters restaurant to class, something he said he has been using since school started at Sunset Park Elementary in August.

Earlier this week, the principal told him it was "inappropriate."

"Because it expresses a woman's body," Ian Golba explained.

The boy's father, Steve, disagrees.

"He’s not thought that there is anything wrong with this mask, nor does he think there’s anything wrong with the restaurant," Steve Golba said.

So he called the school’s principal.

"He told me it was deemed offensive. I told him we go there as a family. We eat their wings, we watch sports. I said we have chocolate cake!  We go there all the time it is not an offensive mask," he said, thinking that perhaps school administrators would change their minds.

Ian Golba said he was told to take it off during gym class.

"I believe it was a counselor that came and she told me to take it off and that it was inappropriate, so I needed to take it off. I asked her if I was allowed to wear it inside out and she said yes I could wear it inside out, so I wore it like that the rest of gym."

Steve Golba said his son is upset by all the attention this drew from administrators.

"He was afraid he was going to get reprimanded, in trouble and perhaps suspended from school. I’ve never viewed it as anything but a restaurant. Do we feel women’s bodies are offensive? I don’t know. I don’t. The Principal told me that it was inappropriate. I said I don’t understand why it’s inappropriate. There’s nothing wrong with that mask".

He said plans to take his son back to Hooters.

Orange County student asked to remove Hooters-themed mask

A fifth-grade student was told not to wear his Hooters face mask in class, because it violates the Student Code of Conduct. The boy's father talks to Good Day Orlando about the incident.

"We do like the chicken wings. They have the best chicken wings."

A school district spokesperson could not comment on this specific case but said that masks fall under, the Student Code of Conduct, in the dress section.

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