DEVON ZACHAROPOULOS, Parkdale Public School in Toronto


Our journey to organizing with parents started by building power within our own members at our school. We held monthly meetings and established a Building Better Schools Action Team. Establishing a team meant there were more teach- ers who could share the load of reaching out to other members in our school so it wasn’t all on just one steward. At every meeting, we would end with an action plan directly connected with our school community. We needed small wins with- in our own staff to build our confidence for collective action.


Our first interactions with parents began with a small group of teachers circulating a class-size petition. We talked with parents on our own time and off- board property on the sidewalk in front of our school. Some teachers actively approached parents for signatures, while others chose to observe. This was okay; they were present and they were learning. Once we were successful with the


class-size petition, we realized the impor- tance of demonstrating solidarity with our students’ families’ challenges. For example, we got involved in the $15 and Fairness campaign, which was all about fighting for a decent minimum wage and


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fairness in the workplace like paid sick days for all workers. We circulated the $15 and Fairness petitions. Families were quickly becoming aware that teachers genuinely cared about the issues outside our schools that were affecting their lives. We now had a relationship with our school community based on a shared struggle for social equity.


During a meeting of our local, we decided we were ready to begin organiz- ing with parents. We decided to invite the school community to join us at an Educa- tion Rally. We handed out flyers that included our meeting spot at the rally. A parent volunteered to post the event on a parent Facebook page. Meeting at the rally served as an opportunity for further dialogue between teachers and families. At this rally, we confirmed who our parent-leaders were and invited them to join our core network as liaisons. These parent-leaders were crucial in organiz- ing our future actions, in particular, our School Walk-In. We co-planned the event using personal email and face- to-face conversations. We met together before and after school to flyer the neighbourhood. We were no longer “Teachers and Parents”, but rather “Teachers and Parents in Solidarity” against any attack on our community (e.g., minimum wage, housing, legal aid) and we had a homemade banner full of signatures to prove it.


school community. These relationships with communities and stakeholders ensured that the court of public opinion and sometimes even the corporate media were on the side of educators during contract fights. There is no substitute for teachers and


education workers sharing our stories about the impact of underfunding and what we know our students need with parents/ guardians and the broader community. We have known for years that, even if unions weren’t particularly popular, the level of public trust and respect for teachers and education workers has always been strong. Without our actual stories from the class- room, shared through our relationships, the government will fill the gap with their own narrative about what is wrong with our schools, which often takes the form of teacher/education worker blaming. This current moment in Ontario is ripe


for organizing and alliance building. At- tacks on our public education system have emerged as a key issue with the public. There has been tremendous organizing among high school students and parents. We’ve witnessed two of the largest high school student-led walkouts ever, this year alone in Ontario, protesting the roll back of the Health and


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