Sen. Cwodzinski backs St. Francis students in book protest

State Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (DFL-49, Eden Prairie) is commending students at St. Francis High School for walking out of class Monday in protest of their school board’s decision to remove certain books from district libraries.

The March 24 walkout came after the St. Francis Area Schools board voted last year to use BookLooks – a website launched by a former member of Moms for Liberty – to rate books for “objectionable” content. Any title scoring 3 or higher on the site’s 1-to-5 scale was removed from district libraries. Books pulled included “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Kite Runner” and “Night,” Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust memoir.

Parents, teachers and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota have filed lawsuits challenging the district’s policy.

Minnesota lawmakers passed a law in 2024 prohibiting book bans based solely on a book’s messages, ideas, or viewpoints. The law, authored by Cwodzinski, also requires school boards and other library governing bodies to have formal policies allowing the public to challenge book removals.

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“As a former teacher, I was proud to carry Minnesota’s law to prohibit book bans,” Cwodzinski said in a March 26 press release. “Free and open access to information and knowledge is essential to a well-educated citizenry and the functioning of our society.”

Cwodzinski, who taught government and civics for more than three decades at Eden Prairie High School, said he was encouraged by the students’ activism.

“I commend the students for fighting for their education, and being aware of the censorship happening in their libraries,” he said.

He went on to quote the Declaration of Independence: “Thomas Jefferson made a conscious decision to include the ‘pursuit of happiness’ as an unalienable right. For our students, many find happiness in the pages of a book.”

St. Francis is a city of about 8,000 residents located in Anoka County, roughly 40 miles north of Eden Prairie.