SARASOTA, FL — A group of Riverview High School students gathered at the school wearing pro-Donald Trump T-shirts and MAGA gear Friday morning, a repeat of a march earlier in the week that drew objections from other students.
The young Trump supporters were asked by school officials to change out of their politically charged clothing, said Kelsey Whealy, a media relations specialist for Sarasota County Schools.
This incident came two days after several of the same students dressed as the president or wore shirts and hats in support of Trump and marched across campus chanting, "Four more years" on Wednesday morning, said Brianna Davenport, an 18-year-old senior.
Though students are permitted to wear clothing and accessories with political messages, "given the verbal exchange earlier this week, the students were asked to change clothes as a courtesy" on Friday morning, Whealy said.
Wednesday's pro-Trump parade began early in the morning, before the bell rang for first period at 7:30 a.m., Davenport said. As part of the school's Spirit Week, the day was supposed to be "Twin Day," where friends coordinated matching outfits, she said.
"The whole Trump thing didn't even coincide with the day. It was just out of nowhere," Davenport said. "You expect to see everybody just matching on 'Twin Day,' not coming in with a parade."
She first encountered the student Trump supporters as she entered the school building Wednesday.
"I saw a big group of kids. They were doing something. I couldn't tell what it was. I just heard yelling as I go into the building," she said. "Then I see a bunch of kids dressed as Trump, kids with their Trump flags and their Trump gear, everything like that."
She watched them walk through the front gate, into the front building and through the first floor of the school. She's not certain how far they carried on after that.
Davenport said she and other students were "very uncomfortable" with the display. "School isn't even a place for politics. I mean, whoa, just the fact that they were even having a Trump parade."
The incident divided students, she added. Some, including herself, associate "negative connotations" with supporting President Trump, she said.
The Trump supporters were heckled by some students. In videos circulating on social media students can be heard calling them "disgusting" and "racist," while others cheered them on.
A 17-year-old senior male student who was part of the Trump group, but asked to remain anonymous, told Patch he and his friends "didn't do it intentionally to cause any conflict at all."
He said, "It was Spirit Week and we thought it would be funny. It wasn't our intention to make people mad and upset them."
There were 10 to 15 students in his group, he said. Several chanted "Four more years" as they walked through the parking lot, but stopped when they entered the school.
"We didn't want to be disruptive in the building because we knew that would be wrong," the student said.
He said he was shocked by the backlash they received from other Riverview students. Students called them "racist, white Trump supporters," "white supremacists" and other "inappropriate names," he said.
"I just don't understand how (supporting) a political candidate would make people want to treat us like this," he said.
Craig Maniglia, the school district's director of communications and community engagement, said the students supporting Trump didn't violate any school policy.
"School policy states that kids can wear political attire, meaning they can wear Trump or Biden shirts to school as long as they do it in a non-disruptive manner," he said.
Maniglia also said the incident "was not a rally or parade, as it appears people are saying on campus. The students were transitioning to class."
The school is conducting an internal investigation of both the Trump supporters and the students "jeering from the sidelines" to see if any of them violated the district's code of conduct, he added.
Spirit Week continued after the incident. The school changed Thursday's theme, originally "Character Day," to "Color Day," where each grade level wore a different color. Friday's theme was "Pink Awareness," and students were encouraged to wear pink to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness month, Maniglia said.
"(Riverview) handled the whole situation poorly," Davenport said. "It's on them. These kids were chanting and had flags, but (school officials) didn't say anything to them. … But I got yelled at by the school resource officer, who told me I needed to stop because I called the kids racist."
This isn't the first incident like this at Riverview, she added. Two years ago, a student made news for "a racist 'promposal,'" she said.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that in 2018, 18-year-old Noah Crowley asked his girlfriend to prom via Snapchat by posting an image of himself holding a sign that read, "If I was Black I'd be picking cotton, but I'm white, so I'm picking you 4 prom?"
Earlier this year, a Riverview baseball player made threats to Black Lives Matter protesters on social media, Davenport said.
"All this stuff gets swept under the rug and nobody does anything," she said. "Riverview doesn't handle things like this well. I'm tired of people getting away with this sort of stuff. The kids I talk to, we're pretty sick of it."
The incidents at Riverview affect the entire school district, said Keysha Matthews, whose son attends nearby Booker High School. The videos from Wednesday's Trump parade have had a far reach, she added. "It's a communitywide concern."
"Many parents I've spoken to, regardless of race, color or creed, do not like what they witnessed on those videos," she said. "It is a community of people upset at the Sarasota (County) School Board, whose actions tell these students that they do not have to adhere to school policies in the name of patriotism."
While Matthews acknowledged that the students "had every right to dress as any character they please," she said the flags and chanting were "disruptive" and "intimidating."
"They are creating a very hostile environment," she said, adding that the Riverview incident also opens the door for students at other Sarasota-area schools to act in similar ways.
If any parents, student or staff members at Riverview High School would like to comment about this incident, email Sarasota Patch at Tiffany.Razzano@patch.com.
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