In May of 2022 Senate bill 775 was approved and signed into law by Mike Parson June 29, 2022. It took effect in August of 2022 and was sponsored by Senator Holly Thompson Rehder. The bill’s main focus is to protect victims of sexual assault but buried deep in the bill contains a clause allowing schools to challenge and ban books. Though the bill explicitly targeted images, many school districts took a broader approach, leading to the removal of numerous books from their libraries. One of the first districts to ban books after this legislature passed was the Wentzville School District, where parents and community members began challenging and banning books that were deemed inappropriate. Hundreds of books were challenged and several titles were removed.
“I was honestly shocked because one of the ones that was being challenged that I read and loved was ‘Speak’,” junior student at Liberty High School Meghan Lynch said. “And it wasn’t really explicit at all.”
During this district-wide debate as to what should be deemed inappropriate, the American Civil Liberties Union stepped in, bringing a lawsuit on behalf of two students against the Wentzville School District. The lawsuit was brought forth alleging that the district violated students’ First Amendment rights by engaging in viewpoint-based removal of books.
“You get really deep into the weeds with politics here,” lawyer John Davis says. “Either conservative, far right, conservative or far left, that’s what you’re dealing with here. And the argument comes down to free speech. The First Amendment allows a lot of things, the most important is probably freedom of speech. You’re sort of tap dancing on thin ice here if you’re going to ban books and at the same time not violate someone’s freedom of speech or freedom of expression.”
Following the district being challenged, some books were reinstated to the library like “The Bluest Eye” and “Fahrenheit 451.”
“Legal arguments are typically used to justify banning books for freedom of speech and freedom of expression,” Davis said. “I mean, you can have a bumper sticker on the back of your car that says something vulgar and the government probably can’t do anything about it. Now a school can prohibit things, like no vulgarity on your shirts or hats, because it’s a specialized thing. But in the general public you can’t.”
After all of this debate in a district less than 30 minutes away, students, parents, teachers, librarians and countless others in the FHSD remain on edge. While some push for books to be challenged and others push back and protest, the district hasn’t banned any books. The district has maintained that if parents have concerns about certain titles, they should work with teachers and librarians to guide their children’s reading rather than impose restrictions on all students. While the district has not banned any books, the discussion continues to bring light on differing perspectives on the role of literature in students’ lives. Some believe books provide valuable insight and support, while others argue for more oversight in what students can access. This ongoing debate raises questions about the balance between parental concerns, educational freedom, and the impact of literature on young readers.
“It can help students find understanding about the world and about themselves,” Lynch said. “Sometimes when you go through something, either difficult or traumatic, or just everyday life things, you need something else to turn to, and a lot of times that is books. That’s literature, that’s people who have been through these things and are sharing their stories. It’s like coping in their own way by writing it and that can help you cope by reading it and by taking that away. It’s taking away a lot of people’s support systems.”
