ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — Outside the Francis Howell School Board meeting Thursday night, dozens of parents chanted and held signs that said "Equality for All" and shared concerns about what they call a "controversial issue" on the board's agenda.
The seven-member, all-white board voted on whether to keep Black History and Black Literature electives in the district. After hearing from multiple parents for more than two hours Thursday, the school board voted 5-2 to remove the electives.
Board members Randy Cook, Adam Bertrand, Jane Puszkar, Mark Ponder and Ron Harmon voted to remove the electives, according to the Francis Howell School District website. Board members Janet Stiglich and Chad Lange voted to keep the electives in the district.
“This is very important to me. It not only affects minority students, but all students," said Lauren Chance, a senior at Francis Howell North High School. "Honestly, Black history is American history and I think it's important that it's taught at our schools."
The growing crowd of parents then moved inside the administration building, anxiously waiting to see how the school board would vote on the proposal to remove the curriculum that is used for Black history and Black literature electives in the district.
"Our students really wanted these electives. Our families really wanted them and our teachers really wanted them. It's important. It's been great," said Harry Harris, whose son is a student in the school district.
In July, the school board voted 5 to 2 to rescind the district's Anti-Racism Resolution adopted in 2020.
"I'm appalled and very disheartened for our students," said Becky Hormuth, a Francis Howell mom.
"It's a wrong move and I think their message is that they don't care about their students' learning," Chance said.
After the meeting, several disappointed parents left with tears in their eyes. Several supporters of the proposal were also there, including members of the group called Francis Howell Families.
Adam Bertrand, the board's president and one of the members who voted to remove the electives, sent the following statement:
"The Board of Education voted to rescind approval of the academic standard titled “Social Justice Standards: The Teaching Tolerance Anti-Bias Framework” as published by Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and associated curricula, effective July 1, 2024.
"With SPLC providing a blanket call out of all parents involved in education as part of their ‘hate map’, this framework specifically promoting activism, and the history of how this framework was adopted I chose to vote in favor of rescinding. While removal of this standard affects the Black History and Black Literature courses many on the board signaled to the District they would be supportive of bringing these courses back after removal of this controversial standard."
The school board's president posted on Facebook Wednesday and said that the proposal needed to be decided before course enrollment for next fall opens in January.