Appeals court tosses lawsuit to ban ‘pornographic’ books from Rockford Schools

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A lawsuit filed against Rockford Public Schools over 14 library books described as “sexually explicit” has been dismissed by the Court of Appeals.

In the ruling issued on Friday, the State of Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the Kent County Circuit Court’s October 2023 dismissal of the lawsuit against RPS by a group called “Parents and Taxpayers Against Pornography in Rockford Public Schools.” 

The lawsuit was filed by unnamed private citizens and past Rockford Public Schools students listed anonymously as John and Jane Doe. They wanted to halt dissemination of “sexually explicit materials that they consider to be pornographic and harmful to minors through the schools.”

In their ruling, the court of appeals said that the plaintiffs were not directly affected due to being former students or anonymous residents; they had no legal right to sue because criminal claims require a prosecutor’s approval or security deposit, which wasn’t provided; the books were not illegal; and the FOIA claim failed.

Superintendent Steve Matthews previously said the books are not part of the district’s curriculum. 

The school district also said parents can have any book blocked from being checked out by their students, but it hasn’t received any formal challenges about these books. 

~ News 8’s David Horak contributed to this report.