Easy Tips for DON Organizers
General Tips
(1) Use Your Connections
Reach out to your teachers, administrators, school librarians, etc about this proposal and ask if they’re willing to back it! Ask for feedback on how to best work with your school board/school administration on getting this mandate passed. Educators have a lot of in-depth experience working with these types of policies and can give you specific guidance on how to be effective in your efforts. Don’t be shy! You might think it’s weird to reach out, but you never know what good might come out of it— everything is worth a shot.
(2) Don’t Underestimate the Direct Message
Posting on social media is great, but directly messaging individuals you know to sign the petition, get involved, and spread the word is even more effective by a long shot! See if you can get everyone on your team, along with yourself, to set aside 30 minutes a day during a designated week to message individuals in your contact list to spread the word. This is powerful! If all of you contribute, you’ll see a drastic spike in the number of signatures for your district. Think about it like exercising— you usually go for a set time block per day. Schedule it as part of your routine, for a week!
(3) Use Student Anecdotes
Student anecdotes by BIPOC are POWERFUL. Odds are, many BIPOC in your district have faced racist incidents within the school system. Collect anecdotes from students as testimonials via a Google Form or Instagram DMs, and compile/share these stories with your school board or school administration. Make sure to keep them anonymous, as this information is very personal to the individual choosing to share. Highlighting student experiences emphasizes a direct need in your community to enact change.
(4) Be Flexible
Remember that there is no clear-cut, linear path towards activism. Every district is unique and will face their own unique challenges/obstacles when working with your school board or school administration. Understand that you may need to change your set plans or course of action numerous times before you reach your goal. If you feel yourself struggling, reach out! Consult your teachers, ask community activists, partner with other local activist organizations, or reach out to the DON team!
(5) Engage the Community
You want to elicit as much publicity for this campaign as possible. The more public and prominent it is in your neighborhood, the more incentive school boards/school administrations have to pay attention to your demands and what you want! Encourage your peers to write emails to the school board voicing their support for your petition, even if they don’t speak directly at the meeting. Email your community’s local newspaper and ask if a reporter can write a story about this campaign. Reach out to parents and ask them to post it in their parent Facebook groups/group-chats (yes, parents can also help)!
DON’s Tips on Curriculum
Establish a line of open communication between your team of students and the teachers/school officials who will be implementing this curriculum. Make sure that your team is able to represent all the communities at your school so that insight can be given from multiple perspectives. It’s important that you set clear norms, boundaries, and expectations when it comes to teaching a racially-pertinent curriculum.
Provide your teachers with some resources about race, racism, anti-racism, and implicit bias especially if they are not BIPOC teachers. Some resources are linked here. Your teachers might also find the websites Teaching Tolerance and Educators for Social Justice as helpful resources specifically designed to facilitate discussion on racism in the classroom.
Ensure that your teachers have some sort of evaluation technique established so they can see how effectively the curriculum was implemented. For example, teachers might ask students to take a survey about their feelings on race, racism, etc. before and after the course. Teachers should also have an anonymous comments section or box available for students to suggest changes to how the new novels are being taught.
Consistently follow up with your teachers and administration. Be sure to provide yourself as a resource if they have any questions that can be addressed from the perspective of a student, and also be sure to continuously ask how the curriculum is being implemented, what you can do to help, and what other strides are being taken to address racism within education. Sending follow up emails once a month is appropriate.
Chapter Highlight: DON Boston
Ziane Roberts-Clarke is a junior at INSERT SCHOOL, and identifies as INSERT IDENTITY.
Sylvia Posever is a junior at INSERT SCHOOL, and identifies as INSERT IDENTITY.
What were the lessons that you learned that helped your DON chapter be successful?
Ziane: On my journey organizing DON Boston thus far, I’ve learned it’s best to take everything in stride, and to always do your best. It’s been extremely helpful to understand that all the tasks are intricately connected.
Sylvia: In my club, we keep on schedule and try to make a new weekly objective. In DON Boston we have check-ins every other week and our group of task leaders, Cora, Amisi and Lex, are constantly in contact with Ziane and I, planning our next steps for the initiative with precision.
What method of activism did you find most effective when trying to work with your school administration and district? How were you able to talk to your school district?
Ziane: A question that is always at the forefront of our minds is, “How can we expand to include even more voices?” We’ve been utilizing our platform on Instagram to spread the message and encourage others to join the effort. Recently we’ve also begun to reach out to local nonprofits that are willing to aid us with recruitment as well as community building.
Sylvia: Another way we have spread our message is through word of mouth and by contacting other organizations who are doing similar work to ours. This outreach has helped us form connections with other youth groups in Boston, who have shared their ideas and accomplishments with us.
How were you able to talk to your school district?
Ziane: We are fortunate to be so well-connected within our own cohort, and very early in the process we were able to make the district superintendent aware of our cause. DON Boston was also able to get in touch with Mai Du, an educator who is currently pushing for Ethnic Studies within the BPS curricular framework. It was very surreal when we were able to attend a senator’s meeting hosted by Du, and meet other equity and inclusion organizations.
Sylvia: We have been very successful in spreading our message because of our members’ hard work and dedication to the cause.
What advice would you give new or struggling DON chapters on how to mobilize their district?
Ziane: The key to every organization’s success is shared accountability. DON Boston is no exception. We have 6 tasks: book hunting, researching education laws, community organizing (making a districtwide Teachers for Diversity council), roping in others (student recruitment/event planning), formal communication, and informal communication (social media). We have 3 task leaders; one handles both sides of communication, another handles each aspect of outreach, and the other focuses on all that pertains to research. The members report to their task leaders, but also have access to Sylvia and I via Slack. We also have a faculty advisor to support and encourage us!
Sylvia: Make sure to keep consistent with your work! It may seem hard at first to figure out how to juggle multiple tasks at once, but with teamwork and determination you will be able to accomplish many of your objectives at a rapid pace. It is helpful to start your campaign with friends or with people you know you can work well with to maximize your productivity.