Actions & Tactics

Many of the stakeholders who create policy affecting your local schools are elected officials (like school board members, state legislators, and other state-level officials). Those who are not directly elected are often directly accountable to elected officials. Petitions and sign-on letters are a powerful tool to get the attention of elected officials because they depend on your vote!

Creating Your Ask

Consider the difference between these two demands:

1. We demand more diverse voices and perspectives represented in our classrooms.
2. We call for more diverse authors and perspectives to be represented in our English classes. To increase perspectives, we demand that at least 50 percent of the books in the English curriculum are written by authors of color, women, and LGBTQ+ voices next year.

What is the difference between these two? While the first ask is generic, the second is specific and measurable — it uses a SMARTIE framework, allowing for specific goals that drive change:

• Strategic – your goal is a smart use of resources and time
• Measurable – you will know when you hit your goal
• Ambitious – if your goal is successful, it would signal significant progress
• Realistic – it is possible to accomplish your goal
• Time-bound – your goal has a clear deadline
• Inclusive – your goal brings those most impacted into processes, in a way that shares power
• Equitable – your goal seeks to address systemic injustice, inequity, or oppression

Selecting Your Target

You can select a target for the petition by answering one simple question: Who has the ability to make the change you’re looking for? Depending on the school or district, targets may include building leadership (such as principals), district level staff (such as the superintendent), or school board members. If you’re looking to drive larger, systemic changes beyond your school district, then targets may even include legislators or members of your state board of education.

Pro Organizing Tip: The more local your target is, the greater the likelihood that you’ll be able to apply meaningful pressure. Also consider how responsive your target may be to a petition — a school board member running for re-election may be more persuadable than an unelected school official, for example.

Determining Your Audience

One of the first things to consider is who you’re looking to organize, and the message you’re trying to send. You may wish to limit the signers to people who live in a certain geographic area (e.g., your school or legislative district). Similarly, you may wish to deliver your petition’s message from a certain constituency (students, parents, voters, etc.).

Your primary consideration should be who your target(s) are and what your message will be. A petition can be particularly powerful, for example, if it’s framed from the perspective of students and has exclusively student signers.

Depending on the audience you’re trying to recruit to sign your petition, tabling, online outreach, and direct face-to-face conversations are all great starting points for signature collections. It’s likely that a petition is just one of multiple tactics you’re deploying over the course of a campaign, so consider how you might include signature collection in other organizing efforts. Don’t forget to ask those who are eager to sign to become more meaningfully involved in your campaign.

Sharing Your Success with the Media

When you deliver your petition, it’s important to keep audiences other than your target in mind — this can increase pressure on your target! Make sure to identify any local journalists that cover education (there’s usually at least one!) to let them know what you’ve been working on, and the ask that you’re making of your target. You can alert local media by tweeting @ them, submitting a tip to the publication, or sending them an email directly.

Deliver In Person, When Possible

Use your petition delivery as an opportunity to request a meeting with your target so you can deliver the petition in person. This will give you an additional opportunity to state your objective, and to ask them to make a commitment. When preparing for the meeting, think about who else should attend with you to demonstrate the base of people who support your objective.

Sample Petition

[TARGET]:

We are a group of students attending Everytown High School aiming to increase principles of equity and diversity within our school.

As a school board member, we know you play an important role in fostering a diverse and inclusive learning environment for all students. Inclusive educational practices have been shown to increase graduation rates, increase college preparedness, and decrease bias incidents in schools. While we recognize the steps the district has taken to increase diversity and belonging for all students, we believe the district can and must do more to provide a safe, supportive, and enriching environment for all students.

Specifically, we call on the district to:

1. Increase the diversity and perspectives presented in English curricula by ensuring that at least 50% of the books covered in English classes in grades 9-12 are written by authors from historically marginalized communities by 2024.
2. Increase efforts to hire and retain staff of color across subjects.
3. Mandate that all district staff complete an implicit bias training annually starting next year.

We recognize these steps as the beginning of a continuous process of fostering a learning environment that meets the needs of all students, but believe that taking these steps will constitute an important step for the district.

We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss these points with you in person at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

[X]

Sample Petition Demands

All young people deserve to be able to see themselves and the issues that impact them reflected in their classrooms and in the books they’re reading.

For school districts working to undermine inclusive educational practices:

1. Publish a clear policy governing the removal of books and other materials from school libraries. Ensure that this policy allows for public comment regarding the removal or restriction of any school library materials.
2. Return any removed books to library shelves.
3. Disclose communications from groups looking to remove materials from libraries or classrooms. (Who’s behind this effort in your community?)

For school districts with a stated commitment to expand EDIB principles:

1. Increase the diversity of authors represented in English coursework.
2. Increase the number of books by and about BIPOC and LGBTQ communities in our school library.
3. Offer specialized courses addressing, for example, Indiginous history or ethnic studies.
4. Increase commitment to recruiting and retaining staff of color.
5. Ensure that history curricula focus are grounded in critical studies pertaining to race, gender, and sexuality.