The all-white school board voted 5-2 to stop offering Black history and literature courses.
A Missouri school board that previously voted to rescind an anti-discrimination resolution has voted in favor of removing elective Black history and literature classes.
The seven-member Francis Howell School Board voted 5-2 Thursday night to stop offering Black History and Black Literature courses, which had been offered at the district’s three high schools since 2021, KSDK reported. All seven members of the board are white.
“Our students really wanted these electives,” Harry Harris, whose son is a student in the district, said during the board meeting. “Our families really wanted them and our teachers really wanted them. It’s important. It’s been great.”
In July, the conservative-led board revoked an anti-racism resolution that had been passed in 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd.
It’s a bummer. This is the district I went to high school in, and it was a fantastic district while I was there. It had its issues but I got a great education.
It’s truly depressing to see this kind of mentality take hold in my community. Sadly I live in a different school district now so I couldn’t have even voted against these board members, but I definitely had to vote down my fair share of people just like them in my local district.
Man you just really hate to see it. I hope this inspires a reaction that will ultimately oust these people before they can do irreparable damage.
Talking to a family friend who’s still in the area, I frankly can’t say it surprises me at all.
I’m with you, it’s really disappointing seeing it get this bad. It feels like Missouri has been trying it’s hardest to catch up to Texas and Florida, in fighting the culture war. Example: one of the Republican candidates for governor wants to get rid of the state’s department of education.