The Wentzville School District Board of Education held a special meeting today, Feb. 25, to “revisit the decision to not retain the book The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.” The board voted to rescind the decision they made on Jan. 20 (which was to “not retain the book”) and then passed a motion to return the book back to Wentzville high school libraries. Both motions passed 5-1, with Director Dale Schaper abstaining from both votes.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Wentzville School District on Feb. 15, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, on behalf of two Wentzville School District students. The class-action lawsuit was filed “to stop the removal of books that are by and about communities of color, LGBTQ people and other marginalized groups.” 

In response to the book being reinstated in libraries, the ACLU released a statement shortly after the school board meeting. 

“This is welcome news, but the fact remains that six books are still banned,” stated Anthony Rothert, Director of Integrated Advocacy of ACLU of Missouri. “…Wentzville’s policies still make it easy for any community member to force any book from the shelves even when they shamelessly target books by and about communities of color, LGBTQ people and other marginalized groups.”

Seven other books have been removed from Wentzville libraries due to their status as “challenged materials,” including: 

• Lawn Boy, Jonathan Evison
• Heavy: An American Memoir, Kiese Laymon
• All Boys Aren’t Blue, George M. Johnson
• Fun Home, A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel
• Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, Isabel Quintero
• Modern Romance, Aziz Ansari
• Invisible Girl, Lisa Jewell

The Wentzville School District is aware of the lawsuit but has declined to comment on the matter. It is unclear whether the BOE  was inclined to schedule the special board meeting because of the filed lawsuit.