Bolles School of Jacksonville says it’s not taking up Pollyanna racial literacy curriculum

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Three parents tell Action News Jax they were surprised to learn the Bolles School, an independent preparatory school in Jacksonville, would not be moving forward with the Pollyanna racial literacy curriculum.

“I was extremely disappointed to say the least,” said Bolles parent, Katoria Wilkins.

“I thought it was a great curriculum. So, I would be interested to hear what the concerns were,” said Bolles parent, Diana Davis.

“It has a chance to be bold and teach curriculum that wouldn’t be possible in other ways. Teach these difficult histories of our past,” said Bolles parent, Mark Walker.

They say they were led to believe the Bolles School would be adopting the Pollyanna curriculum, a program for K-8 designed to teach students about race and LGBTQ issues.

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The Bolles School announced it would not be taking up the curriculum in a letter on Tuesday.

“… We realize that certain elements of the Pollyanna curriculum created much angst amongst our community,” the letter stated. “To be clear, it was never the School’s intention to adopt the entire curriculum, but rather to only utilize those components that fit Bolles. After careful consideration, we decided not to move forward with it and will explore other diversity initiatives and resources that we believe will strengthen Bolles and ensure that the School is a welcoming and supportive community for everyone…”

A Bolles spokesperson tells Action News Jax in a statement some in the school’s community pushed back against the curriculum.

“We have not ‘dropped our racial literacy curriculum’ as it was never started—we were researching different programs and Pollyanna was widely discussed among faculty and parents,” said spokesperson, Jan Olson. “Because there were some who really wanted it, and others that really did not want it, the Board decided to seek other resources. We remain committed to strengthening our current curriculum with programs on diversity, equity and inclusion. We just have to find the right initiatives for Bolles.”

“These courageous conversations need to happen, and difficult conversations, and some people do not want to have the conversations at all,” said Wilkins.

In 2020 an anonymous Instagram account titled “Black at Bolles” surfaced describing instances of racism at the school. Similar ‘Black at …’ accounts were created for Episcopal, Providence and Bishop Kenny.

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The Bolles School responded then saying in part ‘… the Bolles community needs to do better, to be better and to make change,’ and went on to say ‘… we are making changes to the curriculum for the 2020-21 school year that will broaden cultural and racial competencies in all levels of Bolles study …’

Wilkins, Davis, and Walker, are asking, ‘if not now, when?’

“I would be interested to find out, to sit down and have a conversation with those parents, or board members, faculty, staff, that did not want the curriculum and the reasoning behind them not wanting the Pollyanna curriculum,” said Wilkins. “... We can bring up the next, five, ten, curriculums to have these focuses, they can always have some issues or concerns.”

“I did have the opportunity to speak to some parents on the other side. In general the impression that I got was, they didn’t feel like these topics were topics that the school should be teaching,” said Davis.

“You have to implement it with fidelity. So, to me, again, it’s dodging the issue, by Bolles when I hear that statement,” said Walker.

You can read the Bolles letter from Tuesday, HERE.

Cox Media Group