A copy of “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison, sits on a shelf in the Juneau Public Library downtown on August 7, 2024. The book was taken from school library shelves in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District after parent and community complaints in 2023, but must be returned before the start of the 2024-2025 school year. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District will pay $89,000 to settle a lawsuit that challenged the district’s decision to unilaterally remove several books from school libraries.
The settlement was disclosed Thursday in online court records.
The decision came two months after a federal judge ruled that the district improperly removed more than four dozen books from school libraries amid parental complaints about their content.
Other parents sued the district after the removal, which included well-known books like Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five,” took place without an organized review process.
Plaintiffs were represented by the Alaska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Northern Justice Project, a civil rights firm.
By the time Judge Sharon Gleason ruled in favor of plaintiffs by issuing a preliminary injunction order, the district had already performed a review process that restored 49 of 56 removed books.
As part of the settlement, the plaintiffs have agreed to not challenge the remaining book removals.
The seven removed books are:
- “Call Me By Your Name” by Andre Aciman
- “You: A Novel” by Caroline Kepnes
- “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover
- “Ugly Love” by Colleen Hoover
- “Verity” by Colleen Hoover
- “Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah Maas
- “Court of Silver Flames” by Sarah Maas
The lawsuit had been scheduled to go to trial next year, and in a statement published Friday, the district said the cost of the settlement was worth avoiding trial.
“The Board and the District have decided to pay the Northern Justice Project and the ACLU $89,000 now to end litigation that would have cost much more than that to defend through trial,” the statement said in part.
It said the removed books were “criminally indecent” and that had the case gone to trial, it would have prevailed.
Savannah Fletcher, attorney for the Northern Justice Project, said that the judge’s preliminary injunction made it clear that plaintiffs were favored, had the case gone forward.
“I think it really set a clear tone and a clear path for us to reach a resolution with the school district. And that’s really what everyone wanted, too, because these kids were so brave, these parents were very brave to participate in this, and no one wanted to drag this out longer after getting that really decisive win,” she said.
She said she was particularly struck by the courage of Mat-Su students who testified under oath during court depositions.
“I just want to underscore how brave they were. This includes a middle schooler. This includes younger high schoolers who had to be questioned by an attorney on the record. And I’m really proud of how they stepped up,” she said.
As part of the settlement, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District does not have to admit fault.
“We hope that the Mat-Su Borough School District — and other school districts in Alaska that might be considering attempts to ban books — understand the gravity of unconstitutional censorship and its legal consequences. We hope that the school district will focus its energies on educating students rather than trying to suppress ideas,” said Ruth Botstein of the ACLU.
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