Brainerd School Board Settles on New Policy for Challenged Library Books

After many months, the Brainerd School Board has finally settled on a new policy for challenged library material.

The discussion started in the summer of 2023 when multiple parents challenged Sarah J. Maas’ book “Empire of Storms” and its place in the library. After much discussion, the board approved a policy 4-2 last month where a complainant is expected to have read or listened to the challenged book in question.

Superintendent Heidi Hahn said that with the policy having passed, it hopefully would lay out a blueprint for other districts having the same conversation.

“I think there’s lots of people around the state who are happy that it was done so they can grab the policy too,” said Hahn. “[The National School Boards Association] was incredibly supportive as they were navigating this for the entire state of Minnesota as well. So we relied heavily on our professional organizations to guide us through this process, too.”

Policy 631 on library materials can be read in full on the Brainerd Public School’s website