St. Francis school district rewrites book review policy, agrees to return banned titles to shelves

The St. Francis school district has rolled back changes in its book-review policy to settle two lawsuits brought by parents alleging the district unlawfully banned dozens of titles based on ratings on a website that no longer exists.

The school board approved the settlement agreements Monday. Both stipulate that the northwestern Anoka County district will amend its library materials policy and “restore any library materials that were removed” from school or classroom libraries under the current rules.

The St. Francis district’s library policy was updated last year when the school board voted to primarily use ratings from the anonymous reviewer website BookLooks.org to determine which books were appropriate for school or classroom libraries. The site, which sought to warn parents of “objectionable content” in books, was associated with a former member of Moms for Liberty, a conservative group promoting parents rights.

BookLooks announced in March that it was ceasing operations and removing all book reviews from its site. The board had planned to discuss the use of BookLooks later that month but tabled the discussion because of the lawsuits.

School board Chair Nathan Burr said in a statement Tuesday that the settlement was in the best interest of students, staff and the community and “allows us to move forward with a renewed focus on our shared mission: to equip all students with the knowledge and skills to empower them to achieve their dreams and full potential while becoming responsible citizens in a dynamic world.”

The first lawsuit was filed on behalf of eight students — all children of teachers — by Education Minnesota-St. Francis in March. It was followed by a similar lawsuit on behalf of two parents of other students filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota.

The union’s lawsuit filed on behalf of the eight students asked the judge to declare the school’s policy illegal and to reverse the ban on dozens of bestselling books such as “The Kite Runner" and “The Bluest Eye.” The ACLU lawsuit said at least 46 books had been removed were being removed from shelves in the school district.

The district’s BookLooks-oriented policy prompted a student walkout and attracted criticism from authors and the nonprofit PEN America, which called St. Francis’ rules one of the worst school-based book ban policies in the United States.

Ryan Fiereck, president of the St. Francis teachers union, said the settlement was a credit to parents, students, community members and authors who “stood with educators to defend the freedom to read in public schools.”

“The students’ stories and commitment to fixing this terrible policy were particularly inspiring,” he said.

The settlements also required changes to the district’s review policy. In particular, it strikes references to BookLooks. The settlement lists other sites, such as Common Sense Media, Booklist and School Library Journal, that may be used to determine appropriate reading for certain grade levels.

Employees, students and parents can still request reconsideration of specific library materials, and two student representatives will be added to a library materials review committee. Removing a library material will require support from a super-majority of the review committee.

The school board can only overrule the review committee to remove a book after publishing a report of its findings and acting in a public meeting. The new policy must hold for three years, according to the settlement.