Diaz- Arias, Zaid. “LAUSD votes to terminate the ‘random metal detector’ search policy at schools.”

Students Deserve’s student-oriented organizational structure is a combination of Ella Baker’s participatory democracy and guided participation. Students Deserve operate with a horizontal leadership structure. Students work together to plan and run meetings and campaigns. Ella Baker emphasized the importance of learning through group collaboration. Ella Baker is quoted saying, “How many people show up for a rally may matter less than how much the people who organize the rally learn from doing so” (Payne, 1989). Learning through doing is an important part of Ella Baker’s model.

In a district as large as the LAUSD being connected is essential. Students who are involved with the organization are in constant communication with each other thanks to the wonderful creation of social media. Their ability to connect allows them to continuously learn from each other and collaborate. Students are also the face of the organization while adults take a supportive position behind the scenes reflecting the guide participation model.

Parents and educators are also involved in the Students Deserve organization. They work together, along with the students, to advocate for policy change. In July of 2020, Students Deserve, in cooperation United Teachers Los Angeles, successfully advocated to cut the school police budget. The LAUSD faces similar challenges as urban schools. There is an excess of school policing disproportionately affecting Black and students with disabilities. Many of these schools have school resource officers, but no guidance counselors. Students are criminalized through vague zero tolerance policies that impact their school retention rate. The 35% percent budget cut for the LAUSD school police is a step to completely defund the school police. Schools that have a higher population of students of color are more likely to have school resource officers instead of counselors.