12 January 2023 , 17:05
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Parents have been left furious after 12-year-olds were pictured pole dancing at a strip club during a school trip.
Hart Middle School in Michigan, US, is under-fire after a band teacher took his students to Detroit Symphony Orchestra in November.
However, during the school trip the pupils were taken to Niki's Pizza, which is next to Niki's Lounge - a strip club in the Motor City.
A school board member revealed the pizzeria was deemed too busy and the students were moved to Niki's Lounge - with some of the 12-year-olds photographed pole dancing.
Nikis Lounge Instagram page shows long bars and stripper poles and advertises itself as a nightclub in Motor City.
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Rochester Communities Schools confirmed the students went for lunch at Niki's but refused to comment on the incident.
The 12-year-olds were taken to lunch at Niki's Pizza which is next to a strip club (Google)A spokesperson for the school authorities said any parents with concerns should contact their administrators as they attempted to play down the incident.
The statement said: "Rochester Community Schools appreciates the strong teacher and caregiver partnerships as we work together to enhance classroom learning opportunities.
"Parents and caregivers are always encouraged throughout the school year to contact their school administrator with questions or concerns.
"Proposed field trips are evaluated by a curriculum team and require a parental/guardian permission slip.
"RCS may ask parents, caregivers or other responsible adults to serve as field trip chaperones when appropriate.
"Adult chaperones are required to complete background checks. The safety and security of our students, staff and school community is always our top priority."
The statement has been met with a furious backlash from angry parents who are demanding the school comes clean over what happened.
Andrew Weaver, a school board trustee, wrote a blog defending the decision to take students to the strip club.
Parents have been left furious at Hart Middle School (Google)He said some students "tried some pole dancing" and posted a photo of the incident with the children's faces blurred out.
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The trustee has vowed to bring the issue up at the next school board meeting.
Weaver said: "As a board, we need to understand what happened on the field trip was a symptom and not the root cause of the problem.
"Our responsibility is to ensure the root cause is addressed and that what happened this past November does not happen again."
Weaver told Fox News the school was not open about the incident and should have better communicated to concerned parents.
He said: "How did get here? How do we not just communicate clearly to parents what happened?
"'A mistake was made, and address it and make sure that we have the policies in place to prevent it from happening again in the future.
'It's not a witch hunt, no one's going after anyone. It's really just about how do we make sure that we communicate properly."
Parents have criticised Weaver's decision to write the initial blog as it "would be highly inflammatory leading to attacks on a teacher whether or not you yourself 'say anything' you knew what the effect would end up being."
Jennifer Tukasi, who responded to his post, said he should have brought his concerns to district officials.
She said: "If I were a parent of one of these kids and we all knew they pretty much were already aware of it all — regardless of how I felt about the situation, I would be absolutely disgusted by how you, a Trustee, have chosen to handle this situation."