ST. CHARLES COUNTY — A local branch of the NAACP is calling on Francis Howell School District leaders to take action after racist graffiti was found inside a high school bathroom this week.
Zebrina Looney, president of the St. Charles County NAACP, issued a list of demands to the district in a Friday news release, calling on Francis Howell officials to investigate the matter and implement “long-overdue” anti-racism education, training and “accountability measures.”
“I think this is indicative of the climate Francis Howell has harbored for many years,” Looney said in an interview.
A district spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The graffiti was written in black dry-erase marker in stalls of a Francis Howell High boys bathroom. It used racial slurs to call for the killing or rape of Black people.
Principal Dave Wedlock said Thursday the graffiti quickly was removed and an investigation was underway.
“Students found responsible will receive discipline in accordance with the FHSD code of student conduct and may face legal charges,” Wedlock wrote in a Thursday email to parents.
Steven Blair, who became Francis Howell’s school board president in April, said Thursday that racism threatened the unifying culture district leaders were trying to build.
“Becoming a district where 100% of its students feel safe at school will require doing more to fight against racism,” Blair said in a Facebook post Thursday. “This includes calling it out when we see it and making sure those committing acts like this can expect severe consequences.”
Francis Howell parent Meagan Mahaney posted images of the graffiti on social media, saying her son took the photos and reported the graffiti to the high school’s office.
“The fact that we are dealing with this STILL in 2025 is asinine,” Mahaney said wrote.
Race has been at the center of several controversies in the Francis Howell School District in recent years.
Last August, a noose found inside a Francis Howell Central High bathroom during a football practice was interpreted by some as a racial threat, and laid bare simmering frustration from parents or students of color who said they were called racial slurs by fellow students.
Looney said she reported the noose to the local FBI office, but investigators determined it did not fit the criteria of a hate crime and was not placed with racial motivations.
In 2023, the previous majority on the district’s school board voted to revoke an anti-racism resolution adopted in response to the killing of George Floyd.
The board also stripped two Black studies courses of so-called social justice learning standards, which Looney and others argued “white-washed” the courses that were created at the request of students. Supporters of the move said the standards were laced with critical race theory.
Looney, a parent of Wentzville School District graduates, said something needed to change at Francis Howell.
“We demand real change in actions, not just statements,” Looney wrote in her statement. “Empty words do nothing to protect our children.”
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Monica Obradovic | Post-Dispatch
Education reporter
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