OGDEN, Utah – An Ogden school has reversed its decision that would have allowed parents to opt out of the Black History Month curriculum after receiving pushback from the community.
Parents at the Maria Montessori Academy in North Ogden received an email informing them that they would have the option to unsubscribe their child from Black History Month classes and events scheduled for the entire month of February.
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The statement was posted on the school’s Facebook page but has since been removed from the site.
“I’m not sure why anyone thought they should send a document saying, ‘I don’t want my child to participate in this activity,’” said Jaime Tracey, a parent of a student at the school. “That’s what the document says.”
Tracey’s daughter has been studying at the Maria Montessori Academy for seven years.
“This is the first year that anything has ever been discussed about Black History Month,” she added.
She said she has been working on including Black History Month in the school curriculum for years.
“I’ve always strived for it,” said Tracey.
Lex Scott, the founder of Black Lives Matter Utah, said the decision to allow parents to forgo is dire.
“You can’t opt out of black history. Black history is American history,” said Scott. “So it definitely stems from a place of racism and ignorance.”
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In a follow-up email sent to parents on Thursday, the school’s principal, Micah Hirokawa, said he is deeply saddened and disappointed that parents would unsubscribe their children from the Black History Month curriculum. In the email, Hirokawa added that as an Asian American whose great-grandparents were thrown into internment camps, he values teaching students about “the abuse, challenges and obstacles that people in our country have endured.”
“It’s just heartbreaking that anyone who runs a school would believe it’s okay in any way, that it’s acceptable in any way to try to ban talking about black history,” added Scott. to.
Hirokawa was hired in April 2020 to replace the school’s former principal. Tracey said she believes he really made an effort to include Black History Month classes in the school’s curriculum.
“I just knew he was just as surprised as I was that probably a lot of families were sending in the papers not to participate,” said Tracey.
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Scott added that the ability for parents to opt out shouldn’t have been an option in the first place.
“He has to learn from this, he has to apologize and make sure every kid in that school learns black history,” she said.
Utah law allows parents to exclude their children from parts of the curriculum based on religious beliefs or the right of conscience. But a representative of the Utah State Board of Education clarified with FOX 13 that “No student can be exempted from state Standards for Social Studies including a focus on US history, inequality and race relations. “
Hirokawa sent another email to parents on Saturday afternoon apologizing for the option to opt out and has withdrawn that offer. The email states that “No families are currently unsubscribing from our scheduled activities and we have removed this option.”