Educators sue St. Francis Area Schools over book ban policy
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CHRIS WILLIAMS
651-292-4816 (work)
651-247-5539 (cell)
ST. PAUL, Minnesota. March 24, 2025 – Education Minnesota-St. Francis filed a lawsuit Monday alleging the St. Francis Area Schools unlawfully bans books in libraries and classrooms based on the ideas, characters and stories they contain.
The lawsuit was filed in Anoka County District Court on behalf of eight students in the district. All the students’ parents are teachers. Also Monday, the ACLU of Minnesota filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of a separate group of parents.
The union lawsuit claims the “District’s policy is antithetical to the values of public education and encouraging discourse. Perhaps more importantly, the policy violates the Minnesota Constitution and state law.”
The lawsuit asks the judge to declare the policy illegal and reverse the ban on dozens of books. It does not seek monetary damages or attorney’s fees.
State law and the Minnesota Constitution say school districts may not discriminate against viewpoints expressed in books. Comments made during the discussions of the policy make clear the board members were adopting a policy that aligned with their “Red” or conservative views, according to the complaint.
The St. Francis School Board passed a policy in late November 2024 to delegate control over which books may be offered in the school libraries, or purchased by the district, to a website linked to Moms for Liberty called booklooks.org. The policy was approved against the recommendations of the district’s superintendent and attorney.
The site assigns ratings by anonymous reviewers to novels based on secret criteria. In St. Francis, novels with a rating of three or higher are removed from the high school library with no local review or appeal after a complaint is filed. Books with LGBTQ+ characters, BIPOC characters or books that contain what the site calls “inflammatory religious commentary” are rated as less appropriate.
To date, more than 40 books have been removed or will be soon, including such classics as “The Bluest Eye,” “Beloved,” “The Kite Runner,” “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Brave New World” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” A complaint has been filed against the Holocaust memoir “Night” by Eli Wiesel, a Nobel Prize winner. Per the district policy, it will be removed from the shelves.
The complaint said, “The Book Looks rating system that is now binding upon the school district discriminates extensively based on viewpoint, particularly with regard to topics of gender, race, and religion.”
The lawsuit will be among the topics discussed at a news conference at 6 p.m. Monday outside the district office at 4115 Ambassador Blvd. NW in St. Francis. The school board is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m.
Representatives of Education Minnesota-St. Francis, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, Authors Against Book Bans and PEN America will join parents and students at the news conference.
Organizers will present letters from the authors of banned books to the St. Francis school board Monday night, including from Jodi Picoult, Khaled Hosseini, Ashley Hope Perez, Ellen Hopkins, Elana K. Arnold, Shelly Breen, Daniel Cole Mauleon and Anne Ursu.
About Education Minnesota
Education Minnesota is the voice for professional educators and students. Education Minnesota’s members include teachers and education support professionals in Minnesota’s public school districts, faculty members at Minnesota’s community and technical colleges and University of Minnesota campuses in Duluth and Crookston, retired educators and student teachers. Education Minnesota is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFL-CIO.
