School board backs down from plans to scrap Black history courses after backlash

The school board pledged to offer Black history and literature courses that are ‘largely politically neutral’

Francis Howell School Board member Randy Cook at a school board meeting alongside school board member Mark Ponder on 20 July 20 2023 (AP)

A Missouri school board will allow Black history and literature classes after mounting backlash sparked by its initial plan to eliminate the courses.

Francis Howell School Board will permit high school students across the predominantly white district to enrol in these classes in the next school year if the board approves of a curriculum “that is rigorous and largely politically neutral,” said a statement from the school board president and superintendent sent to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

Just last week, the board voted to remove the courses, which had been offered at the district’s three high schools since 2020, because they were reportedly developed to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s standards. At the meeting, the board’s vice president, Randy Cook, voiced opposition to teaching the courses “through a social justice framework,” the outlet reported.

The decision prompted immediate backlash, including a student-organised petition, signed by more than 3,400 people, calling for the reinstatement of the courses.

The students wrote, “The removal of the Black History and Black Literature courses not only deprives students of understanding significant parts of American history, but also undermines the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion that are foundational in education and in the workforce.”

The Associated Press reported that parents and students also protested last week outside of the board meeting, yelling, “Let them learn!”

Despite the board reversing course, some are less than satisfied, expressing doubt at what the “politically neutral” proposal would mean.

“I am not confident in this board’s ability to act in good faith,” Heather Fleming, founder of the Missouri Equity Education Partnership, wrote on Facebook in response to the board’s announcement. “Black History and Black Literature cannot be taught from a ‘politically-neutral’ perspective because our entire experience in America has been impacted by socio-political movements.”

This is not the first racial dispute that the all-white school board has encountered.

Following George Floyd’s killing in 2020, protesters in the St Louis suburb urged the district to do more to address racial discrimination.

In response, the board passed an anti-racism resolution, which stated, “We will promote racial healing, especially for our Black and brown students and families. We will no longer be silent.”

This past July, the Francis Howell School Board revoked the resolution and demanded that copies of it be removed from all schools in the district. Less than eight per cent of Francis Howell’s students are Black, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.