ACLU, teachers, students sue St. Francis Area Schools over book bans
A shelf of "The Kite Runner" at the St. Francis High School library; the school board has used a right-wing scoring system to ban books, including Khaled Hosseini's coming-of-age story that's sold 38 million copies worldwide. Photo courtesy of Ryan Fiereck.
The ACLU of Minnesota and the state teachers union filed two separate lawsuits Monday against St. Francis Area Schools, alleging that the district's book bans violate the Minnesota Constitution and a 2024 law banning book bans. Students, teachers and parents are also plaintiffs in the lawsuits.
St. Francis Area Schools adopted a library policy in November that relies on ratings from a website called BookLooks, which has ties to the right-wing group Moms for Liberty. Books with a BookLooks rating of 3 or higher (out of 5) are subject to removal from St. Francis bookshelves at the request of a student, parent or community member.
So far, the district has banned, or plans to ban, books including 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood, 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky, 'The Bluest Eye' by Toni Morrison and 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini, among others.
The Reformer interviewed Hosseini last week about his book being pulled from the shelves.
Of the 47 books that have been challenged, all but one challenge came from a 'community member' — i.e., not a student or parent, according to the Education Minnesota complaint. So far, 11 books have been removed from the shelves and the other 36 challenges are pending.
The litigation highlights the pitched national battle in recent years over what constitutes valuable educational content and who should be allowed to restrict it, leading to similar book bans across the country.
The lawsuits will test Minnesota's law limiting book bans, which was passed by the DFL-controlled Legislature in 2024.
The law states 'a public library cannot ban, remove or restrict access to books or other materials based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas, or opinions it conveys.' The law does allow for books to be removed from shelves based on practical reasons, 'legitimate pedagogical concerns, including but not limited to the appropriateness of potentially sensitive topics for the library's intended audience,' and to comply with other state or federal laws.
The law also requires that library administrators adopt a library materials policy that outlines procedures for the selection and removal of materials. That policy must be administered by a librarian or someone trained in library collection management.
In its complaint, the ACLU pointed out that the school district's attorney advised the school board against adopting the BookLooks-based rating system because the organization does not appear to be run by a librarian — instead, it is run by 'concerned parents,' according to the website.
Both lawsuits pointed to comments made by a board member who supported the BookLooks-based policy because it aligned with the area's 'red' — conservative — beliefs.
BookLooks is shutting down, according to a message on its website, but a similar organization — ratedbooks.org out of Utah, is maintaining the BookLooks archive.
The St. Francis Area School Board will meet Monday evening. Individuals organizing against the library policy plan to read letters from authors whose books have been banned in the district, according to a press release from the teachers union.
St. Francis High School students staged a walkout in protest of the library policy on Monday afternoon.
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