'Written by somebody that just hates Republicans': HS class exercise about police shootings and unarmed black men biased against GOP, parents and others say

A question on a Missouri public school class exercise about police shootings and unarmed black men is biased against Republicans, parents and others told KPLR-TV.

What are the details?

A student in an advanced placement government class at Holt High School in Wentzville said an assigned, in-class, online exercise included the following statement: “Teresa has heard in the news about the fatal shootings of unarmed African American men by police officers but does not think it is necessarily due to racism," KPLR said.

It finished off with the following multiple choice question: "Teresa is MOST likely a:" — and then the following choices: "Democrat, black woman, Republican, Democrat-leaning woman," the station said.

The correct answer, according to the exercise, is "Republican," KPLR said.

'Written by somebody that just hates Republicans'

When the issue surfaced late last month, the station said some parents contacted lawmakers and district officials complaining that the question is politically charged, divisive, and not educational.

“It felt like the question was written by somebody that just hates Republicans,” one parent who called himself Mike told KPLR, adding that "kids shouldn't be treated in such a way that it's going to cause them to hate each other."

Image source: KPLR-TV video screenshot

Westzville resident Dominic Avila agreed, telling the station the question is "terrible."

Image source: KPLR-TV video screenshot

Holt High School student Morgan Cooper added to KPLR that the question is "inappropriate" and "racial" and "just didn't make any sense."

Image source: KPLR-TV video screenshot

GOP state Rep. Nick Schroer noted to the station that "making police and Republicans look bad ... has no place in our public schools. It shouldn’t have any place in schools altogether.”

Image source: KPLR-TV video screenshot

What did the school district have to say?

A Wentzville School District spokesperson told KPLR the question was part of a randomized set of questions in online resources and not graded. The district emailed the following response to the station:

The Wentzville School District prides itself on successfully preparing students for Advanced Placement (AP) exams, which are college-level exams on various subjects. At many colleges and universities, a score of a 3 or higher on an AP exam will potentially earn the student college credit.

In order to accomplish this, the District utilizes a variety of AP-aligned materials — including online quiz and test preparation resources, designed to ensure mastery of the content and concepts in AP curriculum and that will potentially be encountered on the AP exams. These resources are among the most widely used AP books and materials in the country.

AP Government content includes learning and opportunities to think critically about political ideology. The resources used by the District are used widely nationwide and are aligned to the AP Government exam. The item encountered by the student is extreme and the District is reaching out to the resource developers to directly address this concern.

But Fox News noted that a spokesperson for the College Board, which oversees AP classes, told KPLR it "did not provide this question" and that the program "does not reflect the AP course framework or the kind of content students encounter on an AP Exam. AP students are expected to analyze perspectives different from their own. They are not assessed on adherence to any ideology or viewpoint."