Civil rights and grassroots organizations are calling for the Francis Howell School District to identify and act upon a yearslong pattern of racism after a custodian was charged for writing racist graffiti at Francis Howell High School last month.
Heather Fleming, executive director and founder of the Missouri Equity Education Partnership, stood outside the St. Charles County Courthouse on Monday, calling on the school district to take action. She said she has a child in the district and is afraid for their well-being.
“Students who look like my child were targeted, and that is very concerning because we pay taxes and we send our children to school each day, wanting their safety, wanting them to have the ability to learn and to have high-quality education,” Fleming said. “This is not only a distraction, it is a threat. It is traumatizing.”
Tyler Carter was charged with a felony count of harassment motivated by discrimination to frighten or disturb another person and a second-degree misdemeanor charge of property damage on Sept. 23, according to court records.
The graffiti, discovered by a student, was scrawled across bathroom stalls and metal beams and contained racial slurs and sexually violent language targeting African Americans, according to images shared on Facebook by the student’s mother, Meagan Martin Mahaney.
The student immediately reported the incident to school leaders, who then promptly removed the graffiti and opened an investigation. Carter has since been placed on leave, school district officials said.
Fleming said the fact that a member of school staff was ultimately charged in the graffiti case is even more concerning.
“Our students are entitled to a better learning experience, a better learning environment,” Fleming said. “And so today, we are calling upon Francis Howell School District to look towards solutions, to identify the fact that this is a pattern. It is a pattern that we can see evidence of throughout the last several years, from a noose hanging in the restroom last year to some of the language that past and current board members have uttered … so we're asking that the community come together with us.”
Fleming was joined by representatives of other civil rights and education organizations on Monday, who expressed similar sentiments.
Jamie Martin, president of Francis Howell Forward, a progressive action committee created by parents in 2022 that pushes for equity and inclusion in the school district, said it’s her group’s mission to ensure students are prepared to enter a global and diverse workforce.
“As a white parent, I want to emphasize that it's just as important for our students to learn that respect in diverse environments, as it is for black students to feel respected,” Martin said.
“This (custodian) is part of a larger pattern of emboldened racism in our schools. It's not isolated. Many incidents have happened. … It's time for us to come together for those solutions. So we ask our school leaders to address this problem head-on and to return to anti-bias training and to make sure that their employees are ready to respond to incidents like these.”
Zebrina Looney, president of the St. Charles County chapter of the NAACP, thanked the St. Charles County Police Department for its investigation and the county prosecutor’s office for filing the charges.
“We encourage the prosecuting attorney's office to pursue this case, to send a clear and unwavering message that hate, racism, threats of violence, will not be tolerated in our communities,” Looney said. “Justice must not only be served, it must be seen, felt and trusted by those most impacted.”
