According to the Associated Press, Micah Hirokawa, director of the Maria Montessori Academy in North Ogden, Utah, posted to the school’s Facebook page on Friday that parents would be able “to exercise their civil rights to not participate in Black History Month at the school.” Predictably, there was public backlash to this decision, because anyone who’s been paying at least a little bit of attention to, well, everything, would know this wouldn’t fly.
Betty Sawyer, head of the Ogden chapter of the NAACP, reached out to the school on Saturday to talk to them about why they decided to make the curriculum about Black history optional. The post was also met with backlash by other parents at the school,
according to the Hill.
Rebecca Bennett, a parent at the school, reportedly wrote underneath the Facebook post that she was “appalled to see the form sent out that allows parents to opt their kids out of this and to hear that this is all because some parents have requested it.” By Saturday evening the post was eventually deleted from the school’s page.
“We regret that after receiving requests, an opt-out form was sent out concerning activities planned during this month of celebration,” a statement from Hirokawa and the school’s board of directors said.