In two separate lawsuits, the ACLU of Minnesota and public education advocacy group and teachers union Education Minnesota are challenging a new policy at the St. Francis Area School district that requires book selections to align with reviews hosted by BookLooks, a recently shuttered conservative book rating site with ties to right wing activist group Moms for Liberty.
In its complaint, Education Minnesota claims the district’s new materials policy, which was enacted in November 2024, has led to the removal of dozens of books in violation of the constitutional rights of students; prevented teachers from creating classroom libraries on a "viewpoint-neutral" basis; and runs afoul of a 2024 Minnesota state law that prohibits libraries from banning books based on “the messages, ideas, or opinions” the book conveys.
The groups are suing on behalf of parents, students, teachers, several of whom are also plaintiffs in the lawsuits. Notably, students in the district staged a walkout to protest the policy this week.
The suits note that prior to November of last year, media specialists in the district were vested with the authority to make book selection base on “professional discretion and provided guidelines.” But amid a politically organized nationwide surge in book bans, the St. Francis district’s school board voted to replace its school selection policy with a policy that “barred the selection, and slated for removal without discussion” any book rated "3" or above on Book Looks, which rates books on a scale of 1-5. Books rated "3" are deemed by the site to be appropriate with parental guidance only.
“Among concerns that can contribute to a book's high score are things like ‘racial commentary,’ ‘controversial social and racial commentary,’ ‘alternate gender ideologies,’ and ‘inflammatory racial commentary,” the complaint notes, citing a number of titles removed since the policy’s implementation, including Tricks by Ellen Hopkins, The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison, and Margaret Atwood’s The Handsmaid’s Tale, among many others.
Furthermore, because district’s new policy “declared the Book Looks rating system dispositive for book selection,” educators and librarians had and no avenue for appeal when a book with a Book Looks rating of “3” or higher was ordered removed.
Meanwhile, in a twist, Book Looks suddenly announced it was shutting down earlier this month. As of press time, the site was still live but its book reviews were no longer available. “It has been quite the ride with many ups and downs since God called us to this work in 2022," reads a statement on the site, "but after much prayer and reflection it has become apparent that His work for us here is complete and that He has other callings for us.”
In a statement, Education Minnesota reps said they filed suit because the district’s policy “violates the Minnesota Constitution and state law,” and is “is antithetical to the values of public education and encouraging discourse.” The suit asks for the policy to be declared illegal and to have the banned books returned to library shelves. The action does not seek damages or even reimbursement of costs.
In a separate statement, reps for the ACLU of Minnesota accused the St. Francis School Board of “abandoning its duty to oversee the education of young people in service of a partisan, political orthodoxy.”
