Youth-led Campaigns
Learn more about our ongoing campaigns and the victories we've achieved!
Cook v. McKee
Nov. 2018-June 2022
Success!
< Student Bill of Rights – Article 2 >
In November 2018, a class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court on behalf of Rhode Island students to make public education a right under the U.S. Constitution. In June 2022 RIDE agreed to establish a Civic Readiness Task Force by September 2022 to advise the state on how to prepare students to be involved, capable citizens in a democratic society. PSU youth aim to join this task force and help shape the civics curricula in Rhode Island.
#Pass/Fail
April 2020-May 2020
Success!
< Student Bill of Rights – Article 9 >
#Pass/Fail was a demand to implement a pass/fail grading system into the final quarter, trimester or semester of the 2019-2020 school year. This was to create a more fair and equitable learning scale that was accommodating for everyone during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Providence high schoolers gather for a Counselors Not Cops Walkout.
Counselors Not Cops
Dec 2018-Present
In Progress
< Student Bill of Rights – Article 11 >
Counselors Not Cops (CNC) is the demand to remove all School Resource Officers (SROs) from Providence schools, and instead, hire health and safety staff focused on alternative measures for conflict resolution. Create safe and healthy schools through Positive Safety and Conduct strategies, which includes hiring health and safety staff who focus on alternative measures for conflict resolution.
A young high school student holds a sign with the word ‘his’ crossed out in ‘history’. Beneath reads, “My Story #OurSchoolOurHistory”.
#OurHistoryMatters
Jan 2016-Present
In Progress
< Student Bill of Rights – Article 10 >
Over 90% of Providence students are youth of color, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the Providence Public Schools curriculum. Without culuturally relevant coursework, students struggle to see themselves in the material and as important voices in our world. So, in 2016, inspired by similar fights in California, Arizona, and Texas, Providence students decided it was time to fight for Ethnic Studies in their schools. This fight is still ongoing!
A young student wears a yellow construction cap holding a sign which reads, “Forget thinking caps! WE NEED HARD HATS”
Fix Our Schools
Mar 2015-present
In Progress
< Student Bill of Rights – Article 13 >
Crumbling buildings, deteriorating infrastructure, and unsafe health conditions have been a fact of life in Providence high schools for too long, adversely affecting students' health and education. In 2015, PSU launched a campaign to Fix Our Schools: calling for an end to the moratorium on school construction in RI, and for greater investment in school repairs. This campaign will continue until we realize our vision of a safe and healthy learning environment for all students.
Students gather outside City Hall with signs rallying for PSU’s “Walk In Our Shoes” campaign.
Walk In Our Shoes
Jan 2014-Jun 2015
Success!
< Student Bill of Rights – Article 19 >
Before this campaign, only students living 3 miles or more away from school were eligible to receive a bus pass from Providence Public Schools, meaning some students had to walk up to 6 miles round-trip to go to school. The Walk in Our Shoes campaign focused on getting decision-makers to experience what it was like for many students to get to school, with the goal of reducing the minimum home-to-school radius required for a bus pass. PSU pushed the City to reduce the radius to 2.5 miles in 2015 and to 2 miles in 2016, allowing over 1800 additional students annually to be eligible for bus passes.
Providence student protests for Student Bill of Rights with sign “I am more than just a test score”.
More Than a Test Score
Jan 2013-Jun 2014
Success!
< Student Bill of Rights – Article 10 >
This campaign challenged Rhode Island's testing policy that would have required students to pass an exam to graduate high school. With multiple years of creative, memorable actions, PSU led the fight against the policy and ultimately eliminated the requirement in all Rhode Island schools.
![Students and adults sit in an auditorium with signs demanding the city “Keep Alvarez [High School] united as a school/family”.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58e4ed00197aea34f54a3bac/1497984356501-1GKLKOEM08VCREZNDVL0/Saving-Alvarez-High-School-Success)
Students and adults sit in an auditorium with signs demanding the city “Keep Alvarez [High School] united as a school/family”.
Saving Alvarez High School
Oct 2013-Nov 2013
Success!
< Student Bill of Rights – Article 13 >
PSU rapidly organized this campaign in the last few months of 2013, when the city of Providence announced that they planned to close Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School, a school of approximately 400 students. Students quickly took action to demand the school remain open, from organizing a community meeting to testifing to the School Board. Not only was Alvarez kept open as a high school, but another neighborhood school, West Broadway Middle School, was reopened in the area.
Hope High School Schedule
Jan 2010-Jun 2010
Success!
< Student Bill of Rights – Article 9 >
PSU’s very first campaign at Hope High School aimed to keep a 90 minute block schedule, which allows for more electives and teacher planning time. The campaign included numerous meetings, a school walkout, and a state-level lawsuit that went all the way to the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
Other Campaigns
PSU has also been involved in numerous smaller, school-based campaigns. Though these have been more targeted, they reflect the values and goals at the root of PSU's work. Each of our past campaigns relates in some way to the biggest campaign we've undertaken yet: the Student Bill of Rights (SBOR), an all-encompassing document that unites a range of student demands for a safe, healthy, and engaging education. Below is a list of our school-based campaigns, categorized under the related SBOR articles.
A student of color holds a sign, “Fix our schools, Fix our future”.
Article 3: Students have a right to provide input
Student jury (restorative justice): Hope High School, 2012–2013
Student communication wall: Alvarez High School, 2014
Article 6: Students have the right to be involved in making school decisions
Physics teacher hiring: Alvarez High School, 2012
Voice in principal hiring: Central High School, 2013–2014
Article 13: Students have the right to safe, comfortable, and healthy school buildings
Bathroom repair: Hope High School, 2011
Bathroom improvements: Classical High School, 2013
"Greenify" school campus: E-Cubed High School, 2015
Article 15: Students have the right to healthy food
Healthy school lunches: Hope High School, 2013
Diverse lunch menus: Central, Mount Pleasant, and E-Cubed High Schools
Article 18: Students have the right to break times
"Right to pee" (bathroom access): Central High School, 2016–2017