“Defend the Freedom the Read, Write & Learn,” an educational forum, will be held on Thursday, March 28 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Wellington branch library meeting room at 1951 Royal Fern Drive.
At this information session, attendees will learn how educational censorship and book bans impact students, teachers and schools — and what you can do about it.
The forum speakers include Dr. Deanna Albert of Educational Solutions & Resources LLC and the Democratic Public Education Caucus of Florida, as well as Sylvia Whiting of Whiting Associates Management Training & Consulting, 451 Avengers and Read Banned Books Corp.
According to the event organizers, the issue of educational censorship and book banning has exploded across the nation and Florida. Public school classroom libraries are being decimated as books are disappearing or placed behind a curtain or wall of brown paper. Licensed school media librarians are overwhelmed with reviewing books based on “parental rights” challenges.
To their benefit, Palm Beach County public schools have been trying to work around this problem by moving books to the “grade appropriate level” and not fully banning them, as is occurring in many other school districts.
Therefore, Albert and Whiting have collaborated on their first forum addressing not only the growth of this issue with data supporting what is happening, but ways to push back.
For more information, and to pre-register, contact the organizers by phone, text or e-mail. Dr. Deanna Albert can be reached at (201) 965-1533 or deanna223albert@gmail.com. Sylvia Whiting can be reached at (857) 222-1785 or sylmax99@yahoo.com.
Pre-registration is required, so the organizers are adequately prepared with materials. Bring a school-age child and get a free “banned book.”
