How to Lead a Strike at Your School

By Sofia Calderon

On March 25, 2022, students around the world struck school to demand climate action through the international strike group Fridays for Future. With the help of a teacher and other students at school, I was able to organize a demonstration on school grounds for Global Climate Strike Day. Striking is a very effective way to bring awareness to your school and call for more environmentally-conscious practices. Here is how you bring your strike from an idea in your head to an event that will change your community and your life forever.

Find a trusted adult to help and support you! This is really important. Having an adult who cares about this issue can be a game changer. I received support from the sustainability science teacher who also runs the school’s Green Team. Having known him for a few months, I knew he would be very supportive. Having an adult will also help you effectively contact a higher-level adult in your building, such as the principal. If a teacher is not available, simply ask a parent or other adult to help. If you have a good friend who can commit their time, it is also a good idea to have them work with you to organize.

Write a letter to an administrator. With the help of your adult, find out whom you need to contact for permission to have this strike on school grounds. This letter should be sent at least a month before your event. The teacher should also know what needs to be included in the letter. The information that needs to be included are the five W’s –

Who is permitted to attend? As ours was on school grounds, the principal did not allow persons who did not attend or work at our school to attend as a safety precaution.
Why do you think this is important? This might be very self-explanatory from your perspective, but often administrators don’t have that same understanding so it should be explained. Showing passion is the best way to get them on your side.
Where will the strike take place? It is important to establish where exactly on school grounds you want this to take place. The place that will get the most attention is best. Also, be sure to have an alternative location just in case your first choice is not acceptable. It is okay to strike on school grounds if you are demanding change within your school, county, or town. If you live in a major city and are demanding state-wide or even nationwide change, you might consider a march to your local government buildings (or federal if you’re in DC).
When will the strike take place? Establishing a time and date is imperative. If you want it to be a true strike, choose a time during school hours. Unfortunately, our school would not allow us to miss school, so ours was held in the morning before school, at the drop-off area, to gain as much attention as we could.
What is actually going to happen? Your administrator is going to want to know what exactly is going to go down at this event. Will there be speeches? Will there be a march? Really emphasize that the event is peaceful and inclusive of all ages. It will be safe.

You want to show that you have all the logistics mapped out so that they have little reason to say no. Even If you do not have all the details yet, your meeting should bring up good questions to help address the finer parts of your plan. If you wish to request an excused absence also include that detail in this letter. So then what?

Wait for a response! After sending the email, wait a few days. Your administration should reach out to you within a day or two with any sort of response. Hopefully, they will love the idea and maybe ask for a meeting to solidify your plan. Any sort of meeting should be low pressure, as they already know what it is you are trying to do.

Bring together a team! Putting together an event like this is a lot of work! Find some trusted friends, an interested club, or a tight-knit class to locate people who would be interested in helping you. You cannot do this alone, so having an organizing team is crucial.

Be prepared to pivot! There is a chance that your school would not be open to having the strike on school grounds, but do not give up, persistence will prevail! You should ask again and bring in even more convincing points. Often saying how it would bring the community together and educate your peers is very effective. Ask and reevaluate as many times as seems sensible.

You may reach a compromise but will sacrifice timing or your location itself. It’s up to your group to decide if that is okay. If not, you can have your strike in a public space. A park or sidewalk in front of the municipal building in your town is a good alternative. This way you can invite the public and would not have to censor your statements in order to be approved by the school. (Yes, some schools might try to control your speeches.)

To have the event in a public place, you might need a permit. In most places, a permit is actually not needed to strike on the sidewalk, as long as you make way for people passing by. Contact your local government to secure a permit and be sure to have an adult to help you (Refer to Step 1).

Publicize your event! Publicity for your event is really important to make sure that people participate! Signs around your school and all school announcements are very effective. Our group wanted to make the signs out of reused paper, so we made recycled paper and used the backs of worksheets. Social media is also a good way to spread the news, but word of mouth is arguably the best way to get people to join. This way you can show them that you care about this event and convince them to care as well. If your strike is open to the public, send messages to family members and friends and put advertisements in your local newspaper. Be sure to include the time, date, details of the event, and why people should participate to fight for our futures! It is also a good idea to have a public media photographer at your strike to show off the event afterward. At our strike, the town’s head of communications came to take pictures and put them in the newspaper the following week.

Prepare the presentations. Signs are a common thing to have at a strike. Choose short, powerful phrases as they are best to show spectators what cause you are advocating for. You might also want to have speakers convey inspirational and educational statements. It’s important to amplify women, BIPOC, disabled, and LGBTQ+ voices.

Have the strike! Make sure that all signs, speeches, and chants are ready before your event. Have your friends, teacher, and/or family members read anything you might have prepared, and be sure to practice ahead of time! Enjoy the time when it comes and be present! If you are speaking, it’s best to have people in charge of other things that need managing, such as photos, talking to the police if they are there, starting chants and songs, and anything else. Make it a point to be at your event location early to ensure everything is in order.

Plan follow-up actions. Remember, strikes are a method to get your community involved and aware of your cause. In order to avoid performative action, plan follow-up actions for after the strike. These actions can be anything that will help your school become more environmentally conscious and active. Starting an environmental club, composting program, or education initiative are all great options. Look around your school and community and see what can be done better.

Now that you have all the steps needed to mobilize your school strike, get going, you have work to do! These events do not need to be held on a global climate strike day. Fridays are always a good option but feel free to do what you think is best. Lastly, you can also post your event on the Fridays For Future strike map to get more people to join!