PEN America summit in Orlando fights book bans across state with educators, students

Southwest Florida parents, educators and advocates were among hundreds of people from across the state gathered in Orlando this past weekend for PEN America's first ever "Unified Voices Summit for Educational Freedom."

PEN America is a national membership organization dedicated to defending freedom of expression and the rights of writers, artists, and journalists worldwide.

Amy Perwien attended the summit as a parent and representative of Interfaith Alliance of Southwest Florida, where she is a board member. Perwien is the mother of a current Collier County School student and a recent graduate. She feels that many local parents who speak out in support of access to books may feel alone amidst waves of book bans across the state.

How Collier and Lee schools decide which books to ban, What we know (naplesnews.com)

"The summit was an opportunity to gather and learn with students, other parents, and educators from across Florida about how to support educational freedom," Perwien said. "It gave me a chance to connect with people from across the state who are pushing back against book banning in our schools."

Florida ranks first in the nation in books banned within public school classrooms and libraries.

The Unified Voices summit was the brain child of Senior Director of PEN America's Florida office, Katie Blankenship. Blankenship says she brought the idea with her from her previous job as deputy legal director at the ACLU of Florida, where she was in charge of building out its First Amendment campaign.

"One of the things that I got to do was go out with my colleagues to communities, we literally did a tour of Florida, going county by county," Blankenship said. "That experience was incredible and quickly showed that there is very clearly a movement happening in Florida."

Blankenship wanted the summit to help serve as the "connective tissue" for grassroots organizations and groups in hopes of building statewide network. She also wanted teachers that attended to pay nothing, a feat which she achieved with the help of generous donations from authors and Floridians in support of the cause.

The summit welcomed more than 200 teachers, all receiving a full scholarship for admission and lodging.

"Every time we have tried to make partnerships for this summit, whether it's for funding or organizational sponsorships, it's been this resounding yes," Blankenship said. "Folks who are fighting for Florida see the vision."

High school, college students tackle book banning

While the summit spotlighted the struggles of educators and librarians around the state, it also provided opportunities for high school and college students. Leo Dorn, Perwien's son and a current Collier County school district student, says his favorite part was participating in a youth organizing discussion.

"When my mom told me about the summit, I was immediately interested in learning about the state of book banning," he said. "I've seen many books banned in Collier County, including some of my favorites."

Last year, Collier County Public Schools banned more than 300 books from its school libraries while Lee County Schools banned six. Isabelle Dorn, Perwien's daughter and a student at University of Florida, says she was surprised at the number of students at the summit.

"As one speaker said: 'Students are experts on education'," said Isabelle Dorn. "Students provide valuable experiences to the table and are the motivation for the future; the summit was really receptive to student input."

The Purple Group takes 'opportunity' to network

Leaders of The Purple Group from Lee County also attended the summit. The Purple Group is a non-partisan advocacy group that supports the interests of educators, students and parents in public schools. One of the group's leaders, Madelon Stewart, says they decided to go to the summit in hopes of meeting likeminded organizations.

"This was a great opportunity to meet groups in person and cement relationships," Stewart said. "We met a lot of other organizations who share our goals and values about the importance of public education led by educators."

One of the goals of the summit was to bring organizations across the state together to form a network. The Purple Group was one of the many non-partisan organizations to attend, including The Florida League of Women Voters, The Florida Freedom to Read Project, The SWFL Interfaith Council and many others. Stewart says that she believes the summit achieved its goal.

"The best resources are always other people and their experiences," Stewart said. "Now, we can reach out to all other participants from across the state and share ideas."

According to Blankenship, about 300 people attended the summit. Next year, she hopes for it to be ten times as many, emphasizing that mobilization is far from over.

"Everyone is welcome, and that is the point that we wanted to emphasize at this summit and why it is 'unified voices'," Blankenship said. "We are unified on our key principles and values of democracy, respect and love for one another."