Building Student, Teacher and Parent Allies

Alongside meeting with school administrators, it will be critical for every Chapter to identify allies amongst students, clubs, faculty, parents and other relevant groups where appropriate. Building a strong coalition will establish the foundation for a Student Bill of Responsibilities and Rights and demonstrate the need for your community. A large coalition can help convince school administrators who may be less willing to assist in the development of a SBRR.

A few questions to consider when building a strong and large coalition at your school: 

• What is a coalition?
• What is the purpose of a coalition?
• What do we already know about coalition building on your campus?

Check out STF’s Coalition Building Training page for additional information on how to begin builing coalitions on your campus.

STF chapters should begin by creating lists of potential allies and developing strategies for outreach. All members should help with the outreach, not just the STF leaders.

Students: Once you have identified individual students or potential partner clubs, consider:

• Inviting other club representatives to your STF Chapter meeting.
• Arranging or attending a meeting that includes multiple clubs on campus. Consider attending an ASB meeting with all clubs, if applicable.
• Asking if you can attend other clubs’ meetings to speak to their members.

Teachers: 

• All aspects of your community can be helpful in this process.
• Start with teachers who may already work with student leadership groups like ASB or consider other influential teachers on campus. 
• Consider presenting information about the SBRR at faculty meetings or professional development days.

Parents: Not every Chapter will need to involve parents.

• Follow the guidance of your school administrators for how involved parents should be.
• If your administrators need convincing to support a SBRR, parents could be helpful in persuading decision-makers.

As you build your coalition, consider filming interviews for school announcements, social media posts, etc. (think “Man on the street” style) where people can share why they think an SBRR is important to have on their campus. They can also discuss which issues they think are most important to your community to help garner any additional support.