WILTON MANORS, Fla. – An elementary school field trip that has been going on for a decade created a firestorm this year. School officials have received death threats and backlash. The staff where the field trip happened is also being threatened, they say.
The tense talk online and other concerns were one reason there was an obvious police presence outside Wilton Manors Elementary School on Friday.
The controversy started when an online story labeled a Wilton Manors business, associated with the LGBTQ+ community, as a “gay bar.” While Rosie’s Bar and Grill on Wilton Drive does have a bar, much of its business is its indoor and outdoor-patio restaurant.
Some parents, like David Comras, are frustrated.
His five-year-old daughter was included in the field trip to nearby Rosie’s.
“They’re saying ‘an elementary school takes children to gay bar.’ Come on,” Comras said.
Comras said the event has happened every year for almost a decade. His son has gone on the field trip previously, too.
The first graders were escorted from the school and walked to the nearby restaurant. Rosie’s had printed a special menu to welcome the kids and gave them pumpkins. They learn about the restaurant industry, meet the chef, and even pay for the check themselves.
“They are learning civics and they show them how a kitchen works, and they show them what waiters do. Every restaurant has a bar, so why is it that they are spinning it in such a way where they make it seem like it’s this dark negative indoctrination of children?” Comras said.
A school board member, who chaperoned and posted online about the field trip, has received a barrage of voicemails.
One caller said: “You are a child abuser by taking kids to some bar – gay bar – go to hell.”
Another said: “That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve heard of . . .”
A posting on social media read: “. . . Dumbest idea ever. That you congratulate yourself for contributing to the corruption of minors is disgusting.”
Rosie’s co-owner John Zieba said the perception of Rosie’s is incorrect.
“We say we cater to everybody because we do. You will see families, gay couples, friends hanging out,” Zieba said.
Many parents said they are working to come up with ways to show that they stand by the restaurant, which has supported the school for years.
But all the chatter has now prompted much hate, calls for firings, and even an inquiry by the Florida Department of Education.
Officials from the department are looking into the trip, even reportedly coming to Wilton Manors, not to investigate the death threats per se, but to investigate the trip.
Some involved in the trip, and those who support the restaurant, told Local 10 News they are fearing that the situation could turn into a political argument.