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Visitor urges district to reject what he called politicized ethnic-studies mandates and promotes alternative curriculum
Summary
A visitor argued Minnesota’s ethnic-studies requirements are politicized and said the district should adopt an "American Experience Curriculum" instead. He cited Minnesota statute and objections to identitarian approaches; the comment was presented during public comment and did not trigger board action.
A visitor identified in the meeting as Richard used his five minutes of public comment to urge the St. Francis Area Schools School Board to resist what he described as politicized ethnic-studies mandates and to adopt an "American Experience Curriculum."
Richard said Minnesota’s K–12 system has shifted away from equality and academic excellence toward an "obsession with equity, freedoms and favorite group identities," and that ethnic-studies requirements adopted by the Minnesota Legislature in recent years allow an identitarian framing. He asserted the state’s approach requires high schools to offer ethnic-studies courses and directs implementation across K–12 social studies, and he cited Minnesota Statute 120B.25 while characterizing ethnic studies as "easily politicized." He also referenced statutory language describing study of race and racism and connections to protected-class stratification.
Richard said the organization FAIR (he referred to it as "fair") has developed an "American Experience Curriculum" meant to offer a different civic and historical framing; he described that curriculum as “outstanding” and as designed to contextualize students’ identities within American traditions and aspirations. He argued that some implementations of ethnic studies reduce students’ identities to narrow "identitarian" explanations for disparate outcomes.
The comment was part of the public-comment period; no board action or staff response was recorded on the item during the meeting. The board thanked him for his remarks and moved on to the consent agenda.
