Where we stand...
Overreach
With zero training or experience in public education five of our school board members are declining resources for student learning, steering curriculum changes, and denying funds for teacher travel. Using an “act first, ask questions later" approach, these elected leaders are also making sweeping changes to district policies and regulations that satisfy their partisan agenda.
Sadly, these decisions are rarely made in collaboration with teachers and school leaders with valuable expertise in student learning. Instead of working with district staff to make changes, our board majority borrows policy from national interest groups and party politicians.
Dismissing our education professionals has come at a cost, with delayed updates to curriculum and technology, chaos in district systems, and a chill in free speech district-wide.
Citizenship or Activism, Policy 0380
Rescinding the Resolution against Racism and Discrimination, Policy 0299
Fiscal Responsibility & the FHSD Audit
Elected officials are meant to be stewards over our public systems, but the FHSD5 have systematically divested and defunded our schools, refusing to approve a ten-year-old math resource, blocking teacher training, and canceling popular materials like BrainPop. Like Wentzille before us, our district is now engaged in an expensive, early quest for a new superintendent, no doubt the result of the board’s agenda.
Carol Embree, FHSD’s Chief Financial Officer said our 2023-2024 annual budget was the most disturbing and difficult she had prepared to date. The recent audit confirmed the missteps and processes that district administrators have been working to correct for nearly two years, but another financial threat looms in expensive culture wars. In addition to significant overrun on recent security vestibules, the directors’ efforts have resulted in significant cost increases for legal expenses.
Vouchers (Conflict of Interests & School Choice)
Francis Howell Forward notes a clear conflict of interest when public school board directors are affiliated with political leaders or organizations that promote private school vouchers. Vouchers redirect public tax dollars away from public systems toward private ones, essentially defunding the public district, despite overwhelming evidence that private and charter schools are no more effective than public ones.
While investors stand to profit, public schools and students take the hit. Private schools are also not required to provide necessary care and resources for students with disabilities and learning differences, including gifted programming. Your vote helps direct your tax dollars back into your Francis Howell community. Investing in our schools pays off by keeping property values and businesses strong and creating a well educated generation for the future.
Ask your candidates: Do you support private school vouchers?
More information on the importance of keeping education a public service.
Conservative Values and Public Education
School board positions are one of the only public offices in Missouri where candidates do not declare a party affiliation on the ballot. For students to receive a quality education, the process must be free from political influence. Unfortunately, a wave of costly culture wars has enveloped the country.
In 2022, Francis Howell Families, a well funded political action committee in our community, linked arms with Moms for Liberty to bring the culture wars to FHSD. As soon as their endorsed candidates gained the majority, an expensive onslaught of partisan politics began. Today, FHSD legal expenses are climbing, and our schools have been stripped of resources like updates to our elementary math textbooks and BrainPop. Recently, FHSD’s well-respected superintendent, Dr. Roumpos, recently announced his move to another district (less than a year into a three-year contract). At the Kirkwood board meeting, when he was announced as the new superintendent, he noted how closely his personal values and beliefs aligned with theirs, stating “...it is clear there is such strong support for equity and for making sure that all students are successful.”
This election, FHFamilies is urging you to “Keep Francis Howell School Board Conservative,” but it has to be asked: How long can our school district survive a partisan agenda?
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Education Associations:
NEA/ MNEA/ FHEA
Educators are every district’s most valuable resource. Research shows that a skilled teacher will have more impact on a student’s education than any curriculum or technology. Still, because teacher salaries depend on tax rates, educator salaries often fall far behind inflation. When we take training and education levels into account, teachers are some of the lowest paid professionals with the highest levels of education in our nation.
All teachers benefit from the advocacy of FHEA, even those who don’t become members and pay dues. Education associations negotiate on behalf of the teachers for fair pay, work conditions, and benefits: for the protection valuable preparation/parent communication time and for continuing education that allows teachers to hone their craft.
Our teachers’ work environment is our students’ learning environment. We call on our school board to work closely with union leaders.
(See the links below to learn about how teachers fund their associations and the distinction between a local association and its state or national parent organization.)
LGBTQ Identities
By law, schools are responsible for students’ physical and emotional safety and for preparing students to collaborate with their peers today nd in the future.
Many have called attention to transgender/gender expansive students using the bathrooms of their choice, raising concern for the safety of students as well as moral/religious objections. Still, there is no evidence that the presence of transgender students has resulted in increased sexual violence.
Instead, research shows that those who identify as LGBTQ are at higher risk for mental illness and are more frequently targeted for bullying and violence. Just one supportive adult can significantly decrease suicidal ideation for LGBTQ youth.
Given these facts, schools must protect LGBTQ students’ emotional/physical safety over stakeholder concerns by enacting bathroom policies that prioritize parent or student discomfort.
Biological Sex at Birth Includes Intersex
Learn about risks for LGBTQ youth in schools.
Books
Francis Howell Forward and our endorsed candidates support the right of any parent to determine which topics/materials are right for their students.
In previous years, families have done just that. The Destiny system allows parents to monitor student checkouts. A separate process has also allowed parents to request removal of any specific material offered on the library shelves, triggering a review of the material by a committee made up of teachers, librarians, parents, and students to determine the correct action.
But in a concerning act of overreach, our board recently expanded these processes, allowing any taxpayer (even those without students attending our schools) to object to library materials. The new policies also micromanage our librarians’ efforts, requiring them to notify the board concerning any materials purchased and giving the board themselves (not a committee) the final say on which materials may be removed. These changes place a government entity above parental rights and the discretion of trained educators, drawing a striking resemblance to censorship.
See also:
How to manage your student’s library usage
CRT (Critical Race Theory)
The hostile takeover of the Francis Howell school board started with those outraged over Critical Race Theory (CRT). Motivated by this fear and anger, the wealthy and politically active Gontarz family, started a political action committee: Francis Howell Families PAC. Pouring tens of thousands into the next two school board elections, the PAC secured the majority with their endorsed candidates.
But the CRT debate was merely the match that start an education wildfire. The controversy was launched by Christopher Rufo, a well-paid political operative, had been waiting for just the right moment to sow “universal school distrust.” When the pandemic upheaval around school openings, mask restrictions, and the Black Lives Matter movement arrived, he saw perfect timing. When Rufo was interviewed on national TV, he blamed the racial tension in the country on CRT, claiming it was dangerous and should be “rooted out” of all public systems, including schools. In doing so, he successfully launched a culture war.
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Almost immediately, Rufo and his partners turned from CRT to stoking fears over LGBTQ issues, books, and social-emotional learning—any topic where they saw an opportunity to undermine trust in teachers and schools. Today, five FHSD board members were endorsed by the FHFamilies PAC and by the same state lawmakers who supported bills for private school vouchers.
The Families PAC leaders may have had good intentions when they stormed the school board meetings in 2021, but they played right into partisan hands. The board majority now spends much of its time carrying out a partisan agenda. Distracted from the real challenges that impact student success, these directors chase culture war distractions that only compromise the quality of our district: denying requests for teacher training, refusing funds for new and existing curriculum resources, and repeating political talking points.
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It’s time to right the ship.
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)
Under the leadership of the board majority, FHSD has seen a rising number of discrimination complaints with no acknowledgment of the problem or solutions offered by the board.
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Despite being on the rise in both education and the business sector, anti-DEI efforts have proven expensive and counterproductive in the past (note the loss of the Wentzville and FHSD superintendents partly for this reason). While we recognize that some DEI efforts have proven off-putting and flawed, overwhelming evidence shows:
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Diverse groups generate more innovative and successful ideas, including solutions to highly complex problems but diversity in our schools still varies widely by zip code.
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Despite good intentions and capable students, stark racial disparities persist in advanced course enrollment, discipline, and academic achievement.* This stubborn pattern is no less true for Francis Howell itself.
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In addition to race, DEI efforts address a variety of cultures and identities where disparities persist, including disabilities, economic status, language, etc.
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Students distracted by a harmful climate/culture in their schools suffer academically. No one can learn in a toxic environment.
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The workforce of tomorrow will demand that our students navigate a workplace full of diverse co-workers and supervisors.
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Common sense candidates understand the value of a positive culture/climate and the importance of preparing students for an increasingly diverse workforce.
SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)
Special interests are claiming that social-emotional learning is a secret avenue for indoctrination. In actuality, the core social-emotional competencies are:
Self-awareness
Self-management
Social awareness
Relationship skills
Responsible decision-making
These lessons include discussions about peer pressure, bullying, time management, and more. Most buildings use a research-based curriculum, and the time spent on these lessons ranges from minutes per day to one or more hours per month. Francis Howell Forward recognizes and values the overwhelming research that shows these competencies are directly related to students’ academic and lifelong success.
See also:
Research evidence for the need for SEL
