Students at a suburban St. Louis school district can continue to take elective Black history courses, school leaders announced Thursday in a reversal of a vote last week by the conservative-led school board to end the classes.
But the Francis Howell School District board first must approve a new curriculum “that is rigorous and largely politically neutral,” the board president and superintendent said in a statement Thursday to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“After thorough discussions, we believe there is an appropriate path forward to offer Black History and Black Literature with an updated curriculum standard in the 2024-2025 school year,” board President Adam Bertrand and Superintendent Kenneth Roumpos said.
The Francis Howell School District board voted 5-2 last week to stop offering Black History and Black Literature courses that had been offered at the district’s three high schools since 2021. A little over 100 students took the courses this semester in the predominantly white suburban area of St. Louis.
To some people, any talk of race comes across as playing the “race card”. The chance that they were taught next to nothing about the experience and history of other races/classes in this country is very high.
Thankfully, some of us struck out on our own to research the experiences and history of people of color in the U.S. But not enough do and not enough is taught by any means.