Alexa Henning, the communications director for the governor’s office, sent NBC News a thread of her tweets ason the matter. Henning reiterated Mundell’s comments that the class is not a history course. She added that “the pilot may not meet graduation requirements and does not comply with the rules of the department’s AP program like other vetted” courses.
The College Board, a nonprofit group that oversees AP courses and administers the SATs, was piloting its AP African American Studies course at 60 schools across the country this year, including in Arkansas. Holly Stepp, a spokesperson for the board, said in a statement to NBC that the College Board has long had a good relationship with the Arkansas Department of Education. And six schools, including Little Rock’s Central High School, were scheduled to use the program this school year.
“We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies ‘lacks educational value,’” the group said in a“Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.”