A monthslong battle to change the Black history and Black literature courses in the Francis Howell School District ended Thursday when the school board voted to approve revised curricula.
The new curricula goes into effect in the fall semester. The board also approved curricula for 23 other classes.
In December, the board voted 5-2 to pull the Black history and Black literature courses. Members of the board’s conservative majority objected to the curricula’s social justice standards developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center. A week later, board President Adam Bertrand and Superintendent Kenneth Roumpos announced the classes would return under a “politically neutral” curriculum.
The new curricula don’t include the social justice standards.
The revised Black history course takes a chronological approach, covering ancient African history, through American slavery, up until the Civil Rights Movement and the present day. It won't include units from the original curriculum that focused on why studying Black history is important and how economic policies have largely prevented many Black Americans from building wealth.
Some parents said that while they appreciate that much of the Black history and literature content remained in the new curricula, there wasn’t a reason to pull the classes in the first place.
“Students were happy with the classes; parents were happy with the classes,” Harry Harris said. “We've heard nothing but positive feedback on them, so we shouldn't have been to this point. But the fact that they actually finally passed, and this is settled, and we can kind of move on from this, I am very happy about.”
Much of the Black literature course remains the same as the original, with units focused on the Black experience, the impact of Black voices and how to establish a learning environment. Students will read “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood,” by comedian Trevor Noah, along with other books.
Parents will get to see the list of teacher-selected books students can choose from. A recent update includes a section that would notify parents if teachers decide to change the textbooks or other books that are being read in the class. It also allows families to contact the school library and sign up for email notifications on what books students are checking out of the library.
Three board members who voted to pull the classes and change the curriculum in December wanted to postpone a vote until the Black literature curriculum specified the books that students would read.
“Many families either haven’t read any of these books, especially if they’re not the classic books that many of us read in high school,” board Vice President Randy Cook said. “Parents aren’t necessarily going to know what’s in these, and I look at it as our duty as the board to vet that for the community.”
Teachers and administrators who devised the curriculum said the change was introduced because some parents wanted to know what their students were reading and because class libraries don't all have the same books.
“It’s not that they’re not being communicated, the anchor text that everyone would use is listed,” Roumpos said. “We’re talking about some of the other books that might be student choice.”
Roumpos thanked the board for approving the curricula.
The move to postpone the vote didn’t pass. Some parents objected to the board’s attempts.
“That sounds a lot like control, they want control,” Francis Howell parent Beth Abraham said. “They want to limit the exposure to what our kids can learn and read and saying that the community is concerned about what's in these books is, I think, ridiculous.”
The district introduced the Black history and literature courses after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, sparking nationwide civil rights protests in 2020. The board also passed an anti-racism resolution that same year, pledging to create an equitable environment for all students.
After a school board election last year, the board’s makeup changed. The board’s conservative majority sunsetted the anti-racism resolution and proposed but tabled a transgender bathroom ban.
Educators who helped craft the original curricula said the social justice standards were a road map to help teachers and students navigate sensitive topics in a respectful manner.
The December vote sparked significant backlash from parents and community members who accused the board of whitewashing history. Students, parents and community members protested the decision, walking out of classes and creating a petition to bring the courses back unchanged.
One parent said before the vote that the move to change Black history is an attack on her and many other Black families’ contributions to history.
“The board’s recent decisions tell me that our stories don’t matter,” Miranda Bell said. “Our voices matter too, and we will keep showing up and speaking up in places and spaces where many would prefer people who look like me to just be quiet.”
Harris said while he’s pleased with the vote, it’s just the first step before the school board election in April.
“We're still going to have another election next year to try to move beyond some of these culture wars that these board members have been bringing to the table,” Harris said. “We just want our teachers to be able to go into their classroom and teach our kids. We want our kids to be able to learn and learn the full history of our country and to really understand what's going on around them.”
