Broken Promises in FHSD: Where’s the New Anti-Racism Resolution?
By Dr. Pam Sloan
July 20, 2024 marked the one-year anniversary of the infamous rescission of the anti-racism resolution in the Francis Howell School District. At that July 20, 2023, meeting, the FHSD Board of Education voted 5-2 (the five voting for the rescission remain on the board) to create a new policy declaring that a resolution written by one board will expire seventy-five days after the majority who signed the resolution are no longer on the Board. While the newly created policy seems harmless, the apparent intent of the majority who supported it was to rescind the anti-racism resolution that a prior Board had written in 2020 acknowledging the need for the District to do better by its students of color in all matters of education. Creating a policy on rescinding resolutions was the majority’s disingenuous way of removing the anti-racism resolution. The FHSD Board of 2020 acknowledged the District’s shortcomings in race relations and promised to promote racial healing and take steps to better serve a population of students who experienced racism in its many forms in its schools. It remains difficult today to understand how the intent of that resolution was so off the mark that the Board majority could not support the healing words.
The removal of the anti-racism resolution resulted in a huge outcry from the FHSD community to the degree that the following week, then (and current) Board president, Adam Bertrand, stated in a Facebook post that Board member Mark Ponder would seek input from other Board and community members and write a draft resolution that he felt the community could support. The anniversary of the rescission has now come and gone, and no attempts at rewriting the resolution have been offered by the FHSD Board of Education. No meetings were held. No community members were consulted. Nothing. It would have shown commitment to the promise if the rewriting process had broken down or stalled somewhere along the way, but the reality is that the revision process never got off the ground. The FHSD Board of Education – in an entire year – never made an anti-racism resolution nor any such type of proclamation a priority. This fact signals that the Board majority does not recognize race relations as a problem and does not support efforts for racial healing or inclusivity in the FHSD.
The inaction by the FHSD Board (minus the two newly elected members, Carolie Owens and Steven Blair) reinforces the marginalization and invisibility that many students of color feel. The inaction one year later leaves the larger community feeling betrayed – most especially the District’s students. Additionally, during this same year, the Board majority pulled courses aimed at increasing awareness of Black history and only reinstated such courses after another huge public outcry.
The absence of new supportive language from this Board is both troublesome and telling. It suggests a lack of commitment and an unwillingness to engage in the difficult work of creating a plan to do better for our students of color. When a school board fails to address issues of race relations, it fails in its fundamental mission to provide a comprehensive education for ALL students. Before another school year begins, it is important that the FHSD Board revisit the rescinded resolution with a commitment to write another one or some other support statement.
If you support a learning environment where all students and families feel valued, and if you acknowledge that such a commitment from the District board leadership is important to the mission of all students learning, please reach out to the FHSD school board members and let them know that you desire movement on such a statement. Board member email addresses can be found here.