ST. CHARLES COUNTY — The Francis Howell School Board will vote Thursday on removing the curriculum used for the elective courses Black History and Black Literature.
The courses were first offered in 2021 at the district’s high schools after Francis Howell students complained about discrimination. Pulling the curriculum by fall 2024 would effectively eliminate the courses, teachers said.Â
The curriculum is based in part on the Teaching Tolerance project from the Southern Poverty Law Center. The proposal to drop any standards and curriculum linked to the center was added to the board’s agenda on Wednesday afternoon, just before the 24-hour deadline.
Adam Bertrand, board president, said on Facebook Wednesday that the proposal had to be decided before course enrollment for fall 2024 opens in January.
The courses are opposed by political action committee Francis Howell Families, which says the curriculum is laced with leftist principles and critical race theory. Â
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“Getting rid of these standards (and any curriculum using them) is a first step in removing ideological indoctrination from schools,†reads a statement on the .
Francis Howell Families supported Bertrand and other members of the all-white board who have gained a conservative majority in the last two years.Â
The Black History and Black Literature courses were developed in the 2020-2021 school year and reviewed by teachers, administrators, the curriculum advisory council and the academic strategic planning committee before gaining board approval in July 2021. Both courses were scheduled to be evaluated in the 2024-2025 school year.
The curriculum was also created with the help of consultant LaGarrett King, former director of the Carter Center for K-12 Black History Education at the University of Missouri.
“When we think about social studies education, it’s teaching students who is human and how to treat people humanely. It’s not trying to make kids patriotic or make kids hate America, it’s to help kids see their humanity,†King told the Post-Dispatch in 2021.
The Black Literature course focuses on “contemporary and multi-genre literary works of Black authors and will celebrate the dignity and identity of Black voices†with a goal of allowing students to “further their understanding of their identity, as well as deepen their awareness and understanding of Black people’s cultures and identities,†according to the .
In the course, “students will gain a Black historical consciousness and will become equipped as engaged citizens working toward an equitable democracy.â€
The proposal to drop the curriculum is the latest in a series of racial conflicts in Francis Howell. Earlier this year, the school board voted to rescind the district’s anti-racism resolution that was adopted in 2020.
The “Resolution in Response to Racism and Discrimination†called for “racial healing, especially for our Black and brown students and families.â€
The resolution was adopted about two months after thousands of protesters marched three miles down Mid Rivers Mall Drive following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The protesters called for changes to Francis Howell’s curriculum, hiring practices and discipline policies they said discriminated against students and staff of color.
Black students make up less than 8% of the enrollment across Francis Howell’s 19 schools. The district has drawn attention for racial issues at least since 2013, when residents bristled at the state-mandated transfer of students from the unaccredited Normandy school district. The curriculum for the Black History course includes the transfer law and its repercussions for Normandy students.