Every year we see the firefighters of Franklin drive through town dressed as Santa Claus and his worker elves, a tradition that has been going for years. In a local Massachusetts town the firefighters even visit the elementary schools, at least they used to.

Since 1960 firefighters in the town of Saugus have dressed up as Santa and visited every elementary school. The firefighters would go from class to class and hand every child a coloring book. Harmless, right? Wrong. The school system is now putting a ban on the Santa visits due to “religious” concerns.

The school superintendent, Richard Langlois, personally addressed the firefighters telling them that they could no longer visit the schools of Saugus. In an interview with MyFoxBoston.com Langlois attempted to reason with the public.

“Certainly everyone acknowledges their holiday in a special way they want. But there is a conflict between the church and the state in that regard.”

But how is Santa Claus religious? The last time we checked Santa Claus was no where in the bible. This fact angered the firemen, especially firefighter Mark Gannon.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Gannon said. “There are so many things in the world going on – to see that all of a sudden Santa can’t go to the schools – what else are we going to give up?”

Finally after many complaints from angered parents and firemen Langlois has allowed Santa to visit the children, but also stated that the matter would be discussed during the next school committee meeting.