ST. CHARLES COUNTY — While several high-profile conservative political efforts in St. Charles County have stalled, opponents say they’re gearing up for the next round in this epicenter of the culture wars.
In St. Charles County, county officials and school board members have backpedaled this week after hearing backlash from constituents:
• The St. Charles County Council on Monday delayed voting on a resolution opposing an effort to make Ƶ a destination for Latino immigrants now living in Chicago.
• The president of the Francis Howell School Board postponed a vote scheduled for Thursday that would ban transgender students from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.
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• In Wentzville, a proposal to remove a requirement for diverse materials in school and classroom libraries was by the school board.
The moves come on the heels of the November general election that saw voters reject conservative initiatives across the country. Voters in Ohio wrote abortion rights into the state constitution. Democrat Andy Beshear won his reelection bid for Kentucky governor. And a majority of school board candidates endorsed by right-wing group Moms for Liberty lost their races in Iowa, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, a growing group of parents and educators in St. Charles County aren’t letting up on opposition to issues including book bans and policies affecting LGBTQ students. Several Francis Howell parents said they plan to take legal action if the transgender bathroom policy is approved.
“I think it’s good that it’s not coming right now, but I believe they’ll try again,” said Christine Hyman, parent of a transgender son and a daughter who attends Francis Howell North High. “We’ll continue to turn the heat up.”
Mernie Maestas, lead librarian at Wentzville School District, will speak at the school board meeting Thursday against a proposal to change a 20-year-old library policy. The revised policy, introduced in September, would remove the line stating, “the Board believes that it is the responsibility of the District’s library/media centers to provide materials that reflect the ideals and beliefs of religious, social, political, historical and ethnic groups, and their contributions to American and world cultures.”
The revised policy would only allow library materials that “relate to and support the District’s curriculum and that comply with Missouri law.”
Wentzville Superintendent Danielle Tormala on Thursday will recommend the creation of a policy committee “in order to effectively review, communicate, and seek feedback” for 12 proposed policies that are under review or tabled, including the library policy.
Wentzville first became a political flashpoint in early 2022 when the school board banned “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison. Although the book was reinstated a month later, more than two dozen other books were removed from Wentzville school libraries last year after the passage of a state law banning explicit sexual images in schools.
Police officers were called to a Wentzville high school library twice last year to investigate books. Three of the district’s four high school librarians subsequently left their positions in part because of the hostile work environment, Maestas said.
In Francis Howell School District, board president Adam Bertrand on Thursday will introduce a new policy that would create the “Victims of Communism Memorial Day.”
Under the policy, students would receive instruction from the Washington-based about the “more than 100 million victims of communism around the world and those pursuing freedom while still living under communist regimes.”
The foundation’s leaders include president Andrew Bremberg, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, and board member Edwin Feulner, founder of the right-wing Heritage Foundation. The curriculum was created because “an entire generation of Americans, unaware of the true nature and history of communism, is warming to collectivist ideas because they don’t know the facts,” according to the group’s website.
Erin Shetler, whose daughter attends a Francis Howell elementary school, said she is frustrated with the board’s direction.
“This board campaigned on a platform of getting back to basics, focusing on academics and financial responsibility,” Shetler said. “All they’ve managed to do so far is waste time talking about bathrooms and communism and things that don’t jibe with the back-to-basics education that they promised.”