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ST. CHARLES COUNTY — A self-proclaimed “book banning pastor� was kicked out of a school board meeting here Thursday after he was barred from speaking at the meeting. 

John Amanchukwu threatened a lawsuit against the Francis Howell School District as he continued to speak loudly at board members and disrupt the board’s monthly meeting Thursday night.

Amanchukwu is a national figure known for traveling across the country to hound school boards about books he believes are explicit. The books he highlights often have LGBTQ+ themes.

Francis Howell Board of Education President Steven Blair directed Amanchukwu to leave after about four minutes of Amanchukwu sparring with the board.

“You’re going to defraud me of my freedom of speech?� Amanchukwu asked.

Amanchukwu and to Turning Point Faith, which seeks to �

Turning Point Faith is the religious arm of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics on college and school campuses.

“I’m at a school board meeting in Missouri and the leftists are angry!� Amanchukwu Thursday night. 

Francis Howell school board member Jane Puszkar brought a motion for Amanchukwu to address the board “in the interest of being inclusive.� The motion was voted down.

Blair, the school board president, said Amanchukwu’s request had been previously denied because Amanchukwu did not live in the district. 

Francis Howell  only allows district residents or employees of the district to speak at meetings.

“That’s incorrect, sir,� Amanchukwu told Blair. “I did everything that ya’ll asked me to.�

Amanchukwu’s website says he is the youth pastor at Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina. His bio says he and his family live in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

His tax-exempt organization, I Know God, is registered in North Carolina.

When reached by phone Thursday, Amanchukwu insisted he lived within the boundaries of Francis Howell.

He’d been there “a number of weeks,� he said. He said he had a lease to prove it.

Amanchukwu did not reply to a text Friday morning asking for a photo of the lease.

“North Carolina and any other state that I may live in has nothing to do with the fact that I also have a residential agreement for this district,� Amanchukwu said.

Jennifer Jolls, chief communications officer of Francis Howell, said Amanchukwu did not submit a valid lease, but instead a document titled “Roommate Agreement� for a period of one month with no rent. 

“He asserted that this made him a resident of the district in an attempt to circumvent the policy requirements, yet his own website states he lives in Wake Forest, North Carolina with his family,� Jolls said.

Amanchukwu said he wanted to read a passage of Alice Sebold’s “Lucky� at the meeting. The 1999 memoir details how Sebold endured sexual violence as a college freshman and how it impacted her life.

“It’s a pornographic book that graphically depicts rape,� Amanchukwu said.

Also on the pastor’s list were “Boys Aren’t Blue,� “The Black Flamingo� and “Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen.�

Francis Howell, like many school districts, has a way for district residents and employees to challenge learning materials. The  involves an extensive review process, with the book either retained with restrictions or pulled off shelves.

Jolls could not immediately confirm Friday that Francis Howell held the books Amanchukwu contested, or if they’d ever been formally challenged.

Amanchukwu said he also wanted to discuss a bathroom policy introduced by Puszkar in 2023. The policy would bar transgender students from using restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.

The board never passed the policy after parents of transgender children threatened to sue.

Earlier in the day Thursday, Amanchukwu spoke at Grace Church in Maryland Heights. Photos posted to social media showed Amanchukwu speaking at the church behind signs with Turning Point Faith’s logo.

In the crowd was Ken and Vivian Gontarz, the founders of , which helped elect Francis Howell’s previous conservative majority to the seven-member school board.

Chris Brooks, a spokesperson for the political action committee, said members did not invite Amanchukwu to Francis Howell, nor were they in communication with him.

But Brooks said the board would need to rectify the error of not letting Amanchukwu speak if he indeed met all the requirements.

“The last time liberals controlled the board, they illegally shut down my board speech and threatened to shut down others’ speech as well, and we had to go to federal court to get that corrected,� Brooks said in an email. “I hope they did not repeat that error again.�

Brooks was one of three plaintiffs, including Ken Gontarz, in a 2022 federal lawsuit against Francis Howell after a previous board make-up tried to limit speakers from referencing Francis Howell Families and its website. The district at the time argued such speech violated the district’s advertising policies.

The lawsuit was  a few months later.

Amanchukwu said he may be back.

“I first need to finalize things with a lawyer,� he said. “It’s highly likely that I’ll be bringing a suit against this district for defrauding me of my freedom of speech and my constitutional right.�