ST. CHARLES COUNTY — Hundreds of students walked out of Francis Howell high schools Thursday to protest changes to the Black studies curriculum and other school board moves around race and gender.
“Walking out today put me in the right mindset that we can have a voice in changing things,” said Madi Boyette, 17, a senior at Francis Howell Central.
At 11:30 a.m., large crowds of students gathered outside each of the three high schools and stayed for up to an hour. They took turns speaking, chanting “Black history is U.S. history” and waving handmade protest signs.
“I’m proud of them. They did it, they elevated their voices,” said Zebrina Looney, president of the St. Charles County branch of the NAACP.
The walkouts were the latest protest action from students since the school board voted in December to eliminate the Black History and Black Literature elective courses from the three high schools. A week later, board president Adam Bertrand said the courses will be offered if the board approves a revamped curriculum that is “politically neutral.”
People are also reading…
Francis Howell has become a flashpoint for political clashes since the school board flipped to a conservative majority over the last two years. Before the vote to drop Black studies curriculum, the board rescinded a 2020 resolution against racism. The board is also expected to revisit a policy that would ban transgender students from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.
“I think they’re going out of their way not to listen to us,” said Sam Martin, 18, a senior at Francis Howell Central. “They’re listening to the people who put them in those positions.”
Francis Howell Families, a conservative political action committee, opposed the Black studies curriculum and said it was laced with leftist principles and critical race theory. The group this week encouraged supporters to tell principals and the school board that students who walk out of class should be subject to the absentee policy.
“Allowing students to miss classroom instruction to engage in protest activities without consequences during school hours sets a precedent that certain students receive special treatment and priority over others,” reads the message from the group.
On Tuesday, the district sent a letter to parents that said students would be marked absent or tardy in any classes during the walkout and would not be allowed to participate in afterschool activities or sports that day.
“Our goal is to manage student walkouts in a way that balances respect for student voice, freedom of expression, and participation in the democratic process with our need to maintain order in the learning environment,” the letter said.
At Francis Howell High, which has the smallest population of Black students of the three schools at 5.9%, street entrances were gated shortly before students walked outside the school’s auditorium. At least one St. Charles County police officer was stationed at the school.
Students stood outside for 20 minutes as speakers addressed a crowd of about 100 through a megaphone. Some students listened and clapped when the speakers finished. Others loitered around the parking lot on their phones and left before the walkout ended.
For many students, the walkout was an attempt to amplify a message they felt their school board ignored.
“We demand an education that isn’t limited by our school board’s personal views,” sophomore Adelaide Minton said.
Minton and sophomore Makayla Clark, who spoke to the Post-Dispatch after the walkout, said they hoped to take the elective courses on Black History and Literature in the future.
“I would like to be able to learn about my history, because we always get taught the same things,” said Clark, who is biracial. “It’s always Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Malcolm X; not that there is anything bad about those people, but there are other people who did stuff.”
Clark’s mother, Jennifer Clark, listened to what little she could hear of the walkout from her minivan a few hundred feet away.
There were so many things she didn’t learn about Black history in school, she said — things she hoped her daughter could learn.
“Having the classes available creates a climate at the school that says they’re welcome there,” Jennifer Clark said. “Getting rid of them sends the opposite message. It says we don’t care about you and your history.”
After the walkouts Thursday, the school district issued a statement that said the protests were peaceful with minimal disruption.
Randy Cook, the school board’s vice president, said in an email to the Post-Dispatch that he empathized with students who have strong feelings, as “strong convictions are why many of us ran for office.”
“That said, I do not agree with the reasoning behind their walkout and their doing so was a disruption to the learning environment for the other (approximately) 95% of students who came to school today to learn,” Cook said.
Chad Lange, one of two board members who voted against dropping the Black studies curriculum last month, said he supported students’ actions, whether they participated in the walkout or not.
“If I were a current Francis Howell School District student, I probably would have joined them,” Lange said.