After social networks posts exploded with concerns, unhappy fans and those comparing Newtown to the fictional community in the movie Footloose, where dancing is illegal, a Newtown Police Supervisor told The Bee this week that “Dancing Traffic Agent” Kathy Ballwig Holick will “bop and weave” again.

Ms Holick, who is a popular local fixture as Newtown’s Smiling Traffic Agent — with a popular Facebook page of the same name — has been the subject of several complaints during her tenure, primarily for distracting movements or confusing hand signals.

Ms Holick has during the past year become recognized for her generous smiles, waves and dance moves, the latter of which have been combined with her hand signals while doing traffic duty at three locations. 

Following a May 14 post on her Newtown’s Smiling Traffic Agent page that explained why she had not been dancing while on duty for a few days — she had been told to stop dancing after a call to the police department “concerned of people being distracted and the chance of an accident,” she wrote — Ms Holick received dozens of comments in return.

Francis Bresson said Ms Holick is “a breath of fresh air.” Identifying himself as a former state police captain, he wrote that Holick excels “as a traffic agent. Some police officers can take lessons from you. Your directions are excellent and understood by the motoring public.”

Another follower and a former MTM driver, Donna Grasso Colaiacomo posted that Ms Holick “always put a smile on my face and made my day … you always keep traffic moving and put smiles on many faces.”

After a couple of conversations this week with supervising Sergeant Aaron Bahamonde, it was learned that Ms Holick will be restricting her dance routine to select times when there is no traffic movement around or through her official posts at local schools. But once she has stopped all crossing traffic, she will be able to perform a modified dance routine for the enjoyment of passing buses and vehicles entering or exiting school grounds.

Sgt Bahamonde said that while Ms Holick was the subject of previous, occasional complaints about her sometimes highly enthusiastic gyrations while directing traffic, an incident and irate call filed on May 8 prompted a discussion about when and how much dancing on duty would be appropriate to ensure public safety while continuing to bring smiles to most passersby’s faces.

The emergency call, which was played for The Bee was from an obviously angry, unidentified female. Shouting, “She really needs to go,” the caller said it appeared some vehicles were passing through the school zone in an unsafe manner because of Ms Holick’s apparently confusing directives that might have been part of her routine.

“She was concerned because her 16-year-old almost got hit because the crossing guard was not paying attention,” Sgt Bahamonde said. “We take all complaint calls about our officers and agents very seriously, and we need to be sure they are all doing their proper job. It’s hard to justify why someone is dancing when they have the lives of children crossing and school buses in their hands.”

At the same time, the Sergeant praised Ms Holick, saying “her enthusiasm is second to none.”

He said, however, that the “town has been put on notice,” and admitted that in the areas of Hawley School, St Rose of Lima School (and church, where Ms Holick also serves as a traffic agent for some services), and the high school, traffic is often “barreling down” the main roads. Ms Holick, he said, was brought in to discuss the situation as a matter of administrative necessity.

“We had a conversation, reached a compromise and she was 100 percent receptive,” Sgt Bahamonde said. “Once crossing traffic is fully controlled, she will be able to weave and bop for the school buses and exiting traffic. We’ll meet our safety requirements while allowing the kids on the buses to still see her dancing.

“She’s doing a great job, but safety is most important,” the sergeant added. “We do appreciate how for most people she improves the community’s quality of life.”

An attempt to reach Ms Holick for comment was not immediately returned.