Education

School Board That Recently Flipped Conservative Revokes ‘Anti-Racism’ Policy

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A school board that recently flipped to a conservative majority rescinded an anti-racism resolution Thursday that was enacted in 2020 following the death of George Floyd, according to The Associated Press.

The Francis Howell School Board outside of St. Louis, Missouri voted to revoke an anti-racism resolution and remove all copies and references to the policy from around school buildings, according to the AP. The resolution was initially adopted following the death of George Floyd in May 2020 when other school boards were putting an emphasis on anti-racism initiatives in curricula.

“I do not feel the school district needs a resolution against every evil in society that we are against, such as racism,” Randy Cook, Francis Howell School Board vice president, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “School boards in Missouri are tasked, by law, with addressing the needs of the school district by making all needful rules and regulations for the organization, grading and government in the school district. School board members are elected to do those things—not to spend time writing and debating resolutions about all of the problems in the world today.”

In April 2022, Francis Howell Families, a political action committee, endorsed several candidates who were elected to the school board, flipping the majority conservative, the AP reported. Ahead of the election, Francis Howell Families condemned the anti-racism resolution, claiming that it promoted tenets of Critical Race Theory and Marxism.

“We will promote racial healing, especially for our Black and brown students and families,” the resolution states, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We will no longer be silent. We are committed to creating an equitable and anti-racist system that honors and elevates all, but one that also specifically acknowledges the challenges faced by our Black and brown students and families.”

CRT holds that America is fundamentally racist, yet it teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race. Its adherents pursue “antiracism” through the end of merit, objective truth and the adoption of race-based policies.

There are no plans as of yet to adopt a resolution in place of the revoked anti-racism resolution, Cook told the DCNF.

School districts, parents and lawmakers are debating how to address race and equity issues within the classroom; in February it was revealed that a California school district enlisted a Black Lives Matter Task Force to help teach seventh graders about the “daily effects of white privilege” and “implicit bias.” Several schools across the country celebratedNational “Black Lives Matter at School” week in February which emphasized “restorative justice” and “diversity and globalism.”

“In my opinion, the school board doesn’t need to be in the business of dividing the community,” Cook told the AP. “We just need to stick to the business of educating students here and stay out of the national politics.”