This afternoon, the ACLU of Minnesota and pro bono co-counsel Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP filed a lawsuit in district court on behalf of N.D. and R.A., both are parents of children in the St. Francis Area School District. N.D. and R.A. are seeking to end the illegal banning of books from the district’s school libraries and classrooms.
Last November, the St. Francis School Board changed its library policy. Previously, school librarians and educators – people with expertise and training in education – determined which books would be available in district libraries and classrooms. The updated policy removes librarians and teachers from the process of approving books and replaces them with a website called Book Looks.
Book Looks is a website that was originally started as a “book committee” by Moms for Liberty, a group with a far-right Christian viewpoint and an agenda of removing books they disagree with from school libraries.
Books in Book Looks are rated on a scale of zero (content deemed appropriate for all ages) to five (content classified as aberrant). In St. Francis, books rated three and higher cannot be added to the library. If a book that already exists in the district’s library has a rating of three or above and is challenged, it must be removed.
As a result of this new policy, at least 46 books have already been removed or are in the process of being removed from bookshelves. Books that have been removed include “The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini, “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison,” and “The Handmaid's Tale,” by Margaret Atwood.
“The St. Francis School Board fails its students by abandoning its duty to oversee the education of young people in service of a partisan, political orthodoxy,” said ACLU-MN Staff Attorney Catherine Ahlin-Halverson. “The freedom to read is fundamental to our democracy, and the ACLU of Minnesota stands with St. Francis students demanding that their school board stop violating their constitutional right to access information.”
Banning books from a public school district based solely on the viewpoint or the messages, ideas, or opinions they convey is illegal in Minnesota. This lawsuit also argues that the book ban violates the Minnesota constitutional right to free speech and to receive information, and the Minnesota constitutional right to a uniform and adequate education.
“Reading and access to books, from the greatest of literature to the most timely of fiction, is the bedrock of education and one of the greatest pleasures available,” said Kate Baxter-Kauf, partner at Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP. “The St. Francis School Board’s decision to deny children access to this instruction and joy in violation of constitutional protections is indefensible and LGN and I are committed to advancing justice to protect fundamental freedoms.”