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Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
It's happening here: when book bans hit home
Some titles banned from the St. Francis High School library by the St. Francis school board's right-wing scoring system. Photo courtesy of Ryan Fiereck. If you're a reader, a student of history, or a writer, it's been appalling to watch book bans proliferate across the nation. As The Reformer reported last month, St. Francis High School and Independent School District 15 recently adopted a policy that defers to Booklooks, a website linked to the far-right group Moms for Liberty when evaluating which books to purchase or pull from shelves. The result: Hundreds of books are now either banned outright or will likely be pulled from shelves in the near future; this includes classics like The Handmaid's Tale, The Bluest Eye, and soon, perhaps the likes of 'Night' by Elie Wiesel and 'Slaughterhouse Five' by Kurt Vonnegut and hundreds of others. I graduated from St. Francis High School in 2001. I owe much of my career as a writer — I've written ten books and edited many more — to one of the soon-to-banned books. It was 'Slaughterhouse Five.' It was the year 2000. Frosted tips and Billabong shirts were everywhere. I picked up the book from a spinner in my journalism class. (That teacher was the best teacher I ever had.) I absorbed it, and I proceeded to read every other book by Vonnegut on the spinner, and then Ray Bradbury; soon I was reading Sylvia Plath and Richard Wright. A good book is a springboard to others; the best books lead to a lifetime of a reading. Rather than trot out generic arguments about why book bans are ill-advised, I want to talk about 'Slaughterhouse Five.' It's a fictionalized story, that like all truly great fiction, is, at its heart, true. Vonnegut was a G.I. in World War II. He was in the 106th Infantry Division and was captured during the Battle of the Bulge. To put that another way: The St. Francis school board wants to ban a novel written by an American serviceman and a member of the Greatest Generation. Vonnegut was forced to do manual labor in Dresden, and he survived the firebombing of the city in February 1945 by the Royal Air Force and the U.S. 8th Air Force. The resulting firestorm killed perhaps 35,000 people. 'Slaughterhouse Five' is superficially science fiction, but it's really about the insanity of war, the absurdity of surviving one, and more than anything, PTSD. Vonnegut's writing will last forever because he's irreverent, funny, and accessible, but he's also honest and fundamentally decent. That's why Vonnegut appeals to younger readers; kids aren't just picky eaters; they are picky readers. You have to meet them where they are in terms of attitude, interest, and style. By removing some of the most popular books among young people — classics and newer books alike — the district is depriving students of great books but also the love of reading and learning itself. And as a rule, if you're banning books, you're afraid of ideas: The Soviets were afraid of capitalism, religion, and freedom of speech. The Nazis loathed the Jews, 'inferior' races, modernism in all its forms, and were racist to their core. The Inquisition banned or targeted works by Copernicus and Galileo and Giordano Bruno because they feared their monopoly on cosmology was at an end. The ideas that Booklooks, and by extension, The St. Francis School Board, fear are plain. Even the most cursory look at its anonymous 'ratings' (available on Internet Archive) shows that the books it targets are by or about women, LGBTQ folks, Black and brown folks, or people who have a 'different' point of view. Like any attempt at censorship, it's an exercise in erasure. But I can promise you this: It won't work. As the packed school board meetings, recent student protests, and a pair of newly filed lawsuits against the district make clear, people care about the freedom to read, the First Amendment, and the books and characters they love. This misguided policy has already been an expensive debacle, and the district has made statewide news in the most embarrassing way. If the policy remains in force, it will continue to hurt the district's own students by depriving them of great works of art, and worse, giving them an incomplete, myopic view of the world.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
St. Francis Schools hit with two lawsuits over controversial book policy
The Brief St. Francis Area Schools received two lawsuits over its book policy on the same day. Education Minnesota St. Francis and ACLU Minnesota filed complaints on Monday. Dozens of people protested the Library Materials Policy outside the district office. ST. FRANCIS, Minn. (FOX 9) - St. Francis Area Schools (SFAS) received two separate lawsuits on Monday challenging the district's book policy. The complaints allege the school district is banning books "unlawfully". The backstory The policy at the center of this controversy is the district's Library Materials Policy the school board passed last year. The policy relies on a book ratings website called Book Looks to filter what books can make the district's library shelves. Critics of the policy have taken issue with relying on a singular, outside source to decide what should be on the district's library shelves. Supporters of the policy said it is in place to protect students from any harmful material. Legal battle Education Minnesota St. Francis filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging the district banning books violates state law by discriminating against certain viewpoints. The union filed a complaint in Anoka County District Court on behalf of eight students in the school district. All eight students have parents who are teachers. Education Minnesota said the purpose of the lawsuit is not to seek any monetary damages or attorney's fees, but to reverse the book bans. The ACLU of Minnesota also filed a similar lawsuit against the school district on Monday. "The St. Francis Book Looks policy is a particularly egregious violation of St. Francis students' constitutional right to free speech, to receive information, and to a uniform an adequate education," said Catherine Ahlin-Halverson, ACLU Minnesota attorney. "We want the local ability to look at our books, decide which books are best for kids, have healthy conversations between parents, educators, and school board," said Ryan Fiereck, Education Minnesota St. Francis president. What's next Board Chair Nathan Burr said he is not able to comment on any details of the lawsuits at this time, but did confirm both lawsuits are being reviewed by the district's legal team. Burr said the district is committed to transparency and addressing them thoroughly and appropriately. The Source St. Francis Area Schools, Education Minnesota, ACLU Minnesota
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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 — 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.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘The Handmaid's Tale' could really teach something to the kids in St. Francis. Too bad it's banned.
Some titles banned from the St. Francis High School library by the St. Francis school board's right-wing scoring system. Photo courtesy of Ryan Fiereck. When I asked the media specialist how she felt when banned books were pulled from the shelves of the St. Francis High School library, she told me, 'Each book I have had to remove crushes me inside.' Since December, St. Francis has had one of the worst school-based book bans in the United States, according to PEN America. It's taking a toll. Educators are upset. Students are checking out fewer books. The pile of forbidden titles is growing. That doesn't sound like Minnesota to many people. Our governor likes to say we feed kids here, we don't ban books. But as the president of the union of educators in St. Francis, I want everyone to know it can happen here. The only real safeguard against book bans is us, as voters and plaintiffs, standing up for the freedom to read. My school district is taking books off the shelves for all the familiar prejudices, but the policy is unique because there is no longer any local review or way to appeal. Nearly three months ago, the school board delegated all that to an anonymous website in Florida called has been linked to Moms for Liberty, the anti-government group running a national disinformation campaign to spread distrust of public schools as a prelude to private school vouchers. The site uses anonymous reviewers and secret criteria to evaluate the 'appropriateness' of books for young adults from a harmless zero to five. Books with LGBTQ+ and Black characters, or that have 'controversial religious commentary,' tend to get worse ratings. For books the group really doesn't like, it quotes passages out of context, counts swear words and offers a .pdf summary. The clear bias and murky process matter because in December, the St. Francis school board ignored its attorney, rejected a plan for a review committee of local volunteers and embraced Now any books with a rating of three or higher are removed after anyone files a formal request. No discussion allowed. Let's be clear. That is a ban. 'Out of Darkness' by Ashley Hope Pérez won multiple literary prizes but didn't impress It's gone. So is 'Me, Earl and the Dying Girl' by Jesse Andrews. The shelves are empty where 'Push,' 'Tricks,' and 'Lucky' stood. More than 40 well-used copies of 'The Kite Runner' languish on a cart with warning signs that say '… cannot be checked out!' 'The Bluest Eye' and 'The Perks of Being Wallflower' are out. 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood imagines America as a puritanical theocracy. labeled it a four of five. Students should have checked it out when they had the chance because it is no longer part of our high school library. It may not stop there. According to the district policy, any formal challenges will result in the automatic removal of the Holocaust novel 'Night' by Elie Wiesel because of its religious commentary and references to hate. 'Native Son' won't last. Even the classic World War II novel 'Slaughterhouse-Five' by Kurt Vonnegut is on borrowed time. points to explicit violence, swearing and 'inflammatory religious commentary' and gives it a four. And so it goes. This is viewpoint discrimination and a violation of state law and the First Amendment, but there's no enforcement. The state of Minnesota hasn't reacted. After the November elections, the U.S. Department of Education went from filing lawsuits to stop book bans in schools to calling them a 'hoax.' The fact that has announced that it would stop operating at the end of March doesn't change our district's policy. And, a similar site, out of Utah, has already announced it take over the archive. So, it's up to us: parents, educators, and everyone else who thinks it is wrong for an anonymous website, or even a few loud organizers, to control what students can read in their school libraries. Lawsuits and school board elections are all we have left. But what about books that really are inappropriate? There's always a chance that an educator makes a mistake when buying a book, or the content of a book isn't as advertised. School districts should do what St. Francis almost did: Create a local committee of parents, educators and volunteers to read the books in question, discuss them and make recommendations to the elected school board, which should follow the laws. The process offers transparency and welcomes different viewpoints. Yes, it's more time consuming, but local control of schools also comes with local responsibility for policies. We can respond to the expectations of our community without limiting access. Minnesotans can't expect to find solutions by following the agendas of national, anti-public-schools groups. Personally, I agree with our media specialist when she wrote, 'Each book that is removed is another voice that is being silenced. Our libraries should be filled with the voices of everyone.' If you agree, you can get involved. You can call your school board (mine could use a ring.) You can run for office. It's time for Minnesotans to protect our students' freedom to read the books they relate to so they become life-long readers, no matter their race or background, faith or ZIP code, LGBTQ+ or not.
