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Education News
Elizabeth Shockman

St. Francis school board gets pushback on controversial book buying plan

A person reading a book
Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books, including "The Bluest Eye," by Toni Morrison. Book ban concerns have surfaced in St. Francis after school board members agreed to use a conservative website to pick new school library books.
Rick Bowmer | AP 2021

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Board members with St. Francis Area Schools are under pressure to reconsider their plan to use a conservative website to help choose books to buy for school libraries after the district’s attorney and superintendent objected, warning it would violate state law.

In November, the board in a 4-3 vote approved a measure to require all new school library materials purchased by the district be filtered through the conservative rating site, Book Looks, an organization recommended by Moms for Liberty. 

The policy would mean libraries in the north Twin Cities district could not purchase or accept books including “Night,” Elie Wiesel’s memoir of surviving Nazi death camps and the terror of the Holocaust, or “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou.

Board chair Mike Starr, who voted against the policy, told MPR News that the district has been contacted by the ACLU of Minnesota about the changes and that the civil liberties group may enter the fight. He said the superintendent also spoke Friday with Minnesota Department of Education officials who are now looking into the matter.

“I have never seen this much agony, trouble, issues with the policy … This one blew up on me,” Starr said. “The reason the thing got to where it got to is that politics got pulled into the policy. That’s where it’s at.” 

‘They don’t want this stuff in the libraries’

In November, when arguing in favor of using Book Looks to screen library book purchases, board member Amy Kelly said the guidance from Book Looks represented the viewpoints of people in the St. Francis community.

“We’re not going to always be on the same page, but I know we’re conservative,” Kelly said. “They don’t want this stuff in the libraries.”

However, board member Nathan Burr, who voted against the Book Looks plan, said community views around school libraries and reading materials are broader than that.

“We cannot say for certain that every community member wants to use Book Looks,” Burr said. “We’ve had someone that has come up and spoken about keeping books that have been identified (as objectionable). So that tells me that we have more than one opinion.”

Karsten Anderson, the district’s superintendent, said he opposed the book-rating plan for buying or removing books from libraries. A consulting attorney hired by the district also recommended the board not approve it. 

Reporting from USA Today has found attempts in at least a dozen states to remove books that directly cited Book Looks reviews. Neither Book Looks nor Moms for Liberty, which lists Book Looks as a resource on its site, responded to requests for comment from MPR News. 

A statement on the Book Looks site said the organization does not support banning books and is “not affiliated with any other groups … However, we do communicate with other individuals and groups with whom there is an intersection of mission and values.” 

Earlier this year, state lawmakers approved a law referred to as the “ban on book bans” that prohibits “banning, removing, or restricting access to otherwise age-appropriate books from libraries based solely on the viewpoint, content, message, idea or opinion conveyed.” It also requires decisions on library materials to be overseen by a licensed library media specialist. 

Asked about St. Francis’ plan to use Book Looks, a Minnesota Department of Education spokesperson pointed to the new law, adding in a statement: “MDE is committed to protecting students’ freedom to access information and will continue to be in contact with the St. Francis School District about the recent changes to their library policies.”

The ACLU of Minnesota did not immediately respond to questions around their position on the matter.

MPR News reached out to all the St. Francis school board members for comment. The ones who responded said Starr would speak for them. 

After meeting with state education officials, Starr canceled a special board meeting he’d called for next week to reconsider the policy before new board members take their seats, citing legal advice. 

“I’m just going to cancel,” he said Friday. “The next board is going to have to pick up the dirty laundry and run with it.”