Utah school under fire for allowing Black History Month opt-out | Utah

School officials in northern Utah have come under fire for agreeing to a request by some parents to exempt their children from taking part in Black History Month learning.

“We regret that after receiving requests, an opt-out form was sent out concerning activities planned during this month of celebration,” Micah Hirokawa, the director of the Maria Montessori Academy, a local charter school in North Ogden, said in a statement.

According to the local Standard-Examiner, administrators had earlier announced plans to make participation in events honoring the legacy of Black people in America optional.

Following complaints from parents, Hirokawa wrote on the school’s Facebook page on Friday that he “reluctantly” issued a letter explaining that families were allowed “to exercise their civil rights to not participate in Black History Month at the school”.

That decision drew immediate criticism from parents and community advocates, including the Republican congressman Blake Moore, whose district includes North Ogden. In a statement released on Sunday, the freshman congressman said residents “cannot learn American history without learning Black history”.

“Imagine if we had to teach Utah history without highlighting the persecution of early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who led the migration west,” he said.

Jeanetta Williams, Salt Lake City’s NAACP president, told local KSL TV that if parents “want to opt out, then perhaps the best thing they should do is home-school their children” since they appeared “uncomfortable about talking about race and race relationships”.

The local NAACP also contacted the school directly to discuss the decision with administrators.

Responses to the posts overwhelmingly chided the director, although some others defended his decision. One former Montessori educator wrote that allowing parents to opt out was “disappointing and dangerous”.

“This post reads as a celebration of your own humanity,” Alison Miller wrote. “But all I see is that you are ensuring others have the right to continue to willfully refuse to recognize the humanity of, and to perpetuate harm against, Black people.”

According to the Utah state board of education data, more than 70% of the Montessori academy’s student population are white. Of the academy’s 322 students, only three are Black.

By Saturday, school officials announced that the decision had been reversed, maintaining that only a few families requested the exemption from the instruction altogether. The academy declined to say how many, or specify the reasons given.

Parents who initially opted out have reportedly withdrawn their requests in response to the backlash.

“We are grateful that families that initially had questions and concerns have willingly come to the table to resolve any differences, and at this time no families are opting out of our planned activities, and we have removed this option,” Hirokawa said in a statement.

The North Ogden charter school has been open for more than a decade and bases its instruction on the Montessori method. First developed by the Italian physician Maria Montessori, in the early 1900s, the educational method “view[s] children as naturally eager and capable of initiating and pursuing learning, guided by their own interests”.

Administrators said discussions with parents will not lead to any change or stoppage of the academy’s planned Black History Month curriculum, which is based on Black history instruction using state social studies standards.

Hirokawa, who is of Asian decent and was hired last April, said his own personal beliefs reflect his background as the great-grandson of Americans who were forced into internment camps during the second world war.

“I personally see a lot of value in teaching our children about the mistreatment, challenges and obstacles that people of color in our nation have had to endure and what we can do today to ensure that such wrongs don’t continue,” he said.