Books removed for a compliance review are stacked on a table in the library of Ramstein High School in Germany in February 2025. Books, curricular materials and items related to heritage months that were removed for the review are being restored at five Defense Department schools attended by students involved in a lawsuit challenging the executive orders requiring the items to be made unavailable. (Jasmine Vu)
Students at five Defense Department schools will soon see a boost in book titles and curriculum materials available to them, in accordance with a recent court ruling in a case brought by military families.
A letter earlier this week to families at Aviano Middle High School in Italy said a team at the Department of Defense Education Activity headquarters is “working to restore access to all print and digital materials” at the locations, which also include the United States and Japan.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles’ decision on Oct. 21 to grant a preliminary injunction directed DODEA to restore the materials that schools had removed in compliance with executive orders.
The five schools attended by the 12 student plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Crossroads Elementary School in Quantico, Va.; Barsanti Elementary School at Fort Campbell, Ky.; Aviano; and Sollars Elementary and Edgren Middle High schools in Misawa, Japan.
Nearly 600 books and a spate of course items have been removed since January in line with a series of executive orders issued earlier this year by President Donald Trump and his administration.
In response, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of six military families seeking to stop DODEA from removing the materials, which deal with topics such as race, gender and identity. DODEA operates 161 schools worldwide.
The letter from Aviano was shared with Stars and Stripes by the ACLU, which received word on Monday that the government was working to comply with Giles’ court order.
“This includes restoring books, curricular materials, e-books/digital materials, and materials related to heritage months,” ACLU spokesman Sam LaFrance said in a statement Tuesday.
On Friday, DODEA confirmed that it “is immediately restoring all library books and curricular materials” removed since Jan. 19 at the five schools identified in the litigation.
The agency has not said whether it will appeal Giles’ ruling.
