ST. CHARLES COUNTY 鈥 The Francis Howell School Board has approved revised versions of Black Literature and History electives courses, capping off a monthslong saga that brought the board both scorn and praise.
But the all-white board nearly rejected the Black Literature course during the meeting on Thursday night.
Director Randy Cook moved to delay a vote on approving the course鈥檚 curriculum, along with that of four other English Language Arts courses. Cook said he had concerns about whether teachers would notify parents about books students chose to read during units that allow them to pick their reading material.
鈥淚 see this as a lot of work for teachers and a lot of room for people to forget,鈥 Cook said.
Motions need a majority vote in order to succeed, and only two other board members of the six present, Jane Puszkar and Ron Harmon, sided with Cook. So all curricula up for review eventually passed.
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The vote comes after the courses were put on the chopping block because of so-called , created by the Southern Poverty Law Center鈥檚 Teaching Tolerance project, that largely focused on reducing prejudice and 鈥渁dvocating for collective action鈥 to challenge inequality.
A December vote to rescind approval of the standards and 鈥渁ny curricula used to develop said standards鈥 brought outcry and national headlines.
About a week later, Board President Adam Bertrand and Superintendent Kenneth Roumpos said in a joint statement that students could still enroll in the courses as curricula were revised to be 鈥渞igorous and largely politically neutral.鈥
A previous board majority approved the previous courses written, in part, with the law center鈥檚 standards in 2021. Students requested the courses during racial unrest that was sparked after the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
鈥淲e wanted to make sure that all voices were heard,鈥 Chad Lange, who has served on the board since 2015, said in a recent interview.
But board members elected in subsequent years had less positive views of the standards. The five newest members, all elected with support from a conservative PAC, campaigned on removing 鈥渄ivisive ideological indoctrination鈥 in schools, and viewed the standards as veiled attempts to teach students Critical Race Theory.
鈥淢y goal is/was to remove all CRT ideology (to which the SPLC subscribes) from all curriculum in our schools,鈥 board member Jane Puszkar wrote in an email to the Post-Dispatch.
On Thursday night, several attendees in a packed meeting room scoffed as the board briefly deliberated the new curricula.
Miranda Bell, the mother of two middle schoolers in the district, was in the crowd. She said in an interview the board鈥檚 actions raised 鈥渟ome big question marks鈥 鈥 and not just about the courses.
Last year, the board also voted to rescind an anti-racism resolution, adopted in 2020, that pledged the board would 鈥渟peak firmly against any racism, discrimination, and senseless violence against people regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, immigration status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or ability.鈥
Bell questioned whether the board understood the impact of its actions.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e not a person of color, you鈥檙e not acutely aware of the impacts that race and culture have on your day-to-day,鈥 Bell said.
Parents who spoke to a reporter after the meeting had few concerns about the revised courses, which they viewed as largely similar to the originals.
The Black History course appears to have been changed the most. Its new curriculum is more sequential, while the original was more thematic. Entire units were refocused, too. Gone is a unit on how laws and economic policies affected Black wealth, and another on what historical and modern-day struggles exist for Black people working toward equity.
With the Black Literature course, most unit titles and descriptions were slightly reworded or kept the same. 鈥淭he Power of Black Voices鈥 unit, for example, became 鈥淭he Impact of Black Voices.鈥 In that course, students will read comedian Trevor Noah鈥檚 鈥淏orn A Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood.鈥
Puszkar denied the revised courses were 鈥渨hitewashed,鈥 which commenters both online and at board meetings have argued.
鈥淭hey give a more accurate representation of history [rather] than through the lens of victim and oppressor,鈥 Puszkar wrote.
Across Francis Howell鈥檚 three high schools, 60 students enrolled in Black History and 42 students enrolled in Black Literature this year.
Lange didn鈥檛 think the courses had to be changed at all, but 鈥渟omething is better than nothing,鈥 he said.