ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — Outside the Francis Howell School Board meeting Thursday night, dozens of parents chanted and held signs that said "Equality for All" and shared concerns about what they call a "controversial issue" on the board's agenda.

The seven-member, all-white board voted on whether to keep Black History and Black Literature electives in the district. After hearing from multiple parents for more than two hours Thursday, the school board voted 5-2 to remove the electives.

Board members Randy Cook, Adam Bertrand, Jane Puszkar, Mark Ponder and Ron Harmon voted to remove the electives, according to the Francis Howell School District website. Board members Janet Stiglich and Chad Lange voted to keep the electives in the district.

“This is very important to me. It not only affects minority students, but all students," said Lauren Chance, a senior at Francis Howell North High School. "Honestly, Black history is American history and I think it's important that it's taught at our schools."

The growing crowd of parents then moved inside the administration building, anxiously waiting to see how the school board would vote on the proposal to remove the curriculum that is used for Black history and Black literature electives in the district.

"Our students really wanted these electives. Our families really wanted them and our teachers really wanted them. It's important. It's been great," said Harry Harris, whose son is a student in the school district.

In July, the school board voted 5 to 2 to rescind the district's Anti-Racism Resolution adopted in 2020.

"I'm appalled and very disheartened for our students," said Becky Hormuth, a Francis Howell mom.

"It's a wrong move and I think their message is that they don't care about their students' learning," Chance said.

After the meeting, several disappointed parents left with tears in their eyes. Several supporters of the proposal were also there, including members of the group called Francis Howell Families.

Adam Bertrand, the board's president and one of the members who voted to remove the electives, sent the following statement:

"The Board of Education voted to rescind approval of the academic standard titled “Social Justice Standards: The Teaching Tolerance Anti-Bias Framework” as published by Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and associated curricula, effective July 1, 2024.

"With SPLC providing a blanket call out of all parents involved in education as part of their ‘hate map’, this framework specifically promoting activism, and the history of how this framework was adopted I chose to vote in favor of rescinding.  While removal of this standard affects the Black History and Black Literature courses many on the board signaled to the District they would be supportive of bringing these courses back after removal of this controversial standard."

The school board's president posted on Facebook Wednesday and said that the proposal needed to be decided before course enrollment for next fall opens in January. 

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — There was a full house Monday evening for a meeting at the Ferguson-Florissant School District's Administration building. 

During a standing-room-only meeting, Superintendent Dr. Joseph Davis pleaded to parents for proactive steps to help stop the ongoing school violence. Davis said the ongoing fights and violence have occurred especially at the district’s middle and high schools.

“I want to hear from parents and grandparents on how can we create safer schools for our students to learn and for our teachers to teach," he said.

The district has implemented several measures, including providing mental and emotional support for students, but Davis said in the past two years there’s been an uptick in fights among middle and high school students in the north St. Louis County school district.

“This problem is bigger than us," Davis said. "Ninety-five percent of our students come to school each day and do what they’re supposed to do. It is community and schools working together so that we can solve some of these issues that we’re having."

Davis said that last year, there were 184 fights at Ferguson-Florissant high schools. This year, there have been 257. Many of the fights are happening at McCluer and McCluer North high schools, he said.

"Ninety-five percent of our students are doing what their parents taught them and they are learning and are not causing these problems, but five percent of our students are causing these problems. In some cases, parents have crossed the line, came to our schools, and fought our students on school buses. This is unreal. We need our community to help us solve this community problem."

“Yes, I would say it’s out of control,” said Anaiyah Johnson, a ninth grader at McCluer North High School. “People are getting hurt. People are having to go to the hospital."

One retired teacher in the school district said, “I think for a lot of these students it is an issue of self-esteem. I also think social media is a problem."

Davis said they're also seeing students get into arguments over social media while at home on the weekends, "and they’re bringing those things with them to school and a lot of this is flaring up."

“I think it is community and schools working together so that we can solve some of these issues that we’re seeing. Our schools cannot do it alone. We need to hear from moms, dads and grandparents,” Davis said.

“I’m hoping that parents will be a lot more involved with their children and hold their students accountable,” said Tiara Johnson, a parent in the district.

More than 100 parents attended Monday's meeting in-person and online. Several Ferguson-Florissant principals, school board members and former teachers were also there.