Philadelphia Student Union members took to Twitter to show that they are organizing safely during COVID-19. Image credit: Philadelphia Student Union Twitter

PSU makes use of community expertise and organizing experience to build both in-person and digital support and advocacy networks. PSU’s early work was centered around opposing school closings and for-profit takeovers in the School District of Philadelphia. The organization now has five staff members listed on its website, four of whom are adult college graduates and one who is a youth organizer but is a high school graduate. This suggests that adults play a key role in the organization, but youth do as well. PSU has three key programming spaces: “Youth-led chapters inside schools, where members develop specific campaigns to address problems in their schools which impact them directly” through weekly meetings facilitated by students; citywide meetings “where members from across the city participate in training on how to become facilitators and organizers”; and arts and cultural programming “where members learn … how to use a variety of artistic mediums including poster and banner making, poetry, music, photography and film.” 

In addition to in-person activities, PSU is very active online. The group issued a statement on its website on June 6 calling on the District to “remove all police and school resource officers from schools,” tying this demand to the Black Lives Matter movement and broader calls to defund the police. PSU also makes frequent use of social media, particularly on Twitter, which functions both as a platform for organizing and as a source of important information for parents and families. PSU’s Twitter includes videos of student organizers speaking at rallies and quotes from student organizers expressing their support for Black Lives Matter and their goal to end police presence in their schools. In recent months, the page has also been used to alert parents of important developments related to COVID-19—such as sharing ventilation reports for each public school—and to call for schools to remain closed until it is possible to reopen safely. Interestingly, while PSU’s Twitter frequently quotes students, it does not appear that it actually retweets many students’ Tweets; rather, it seems to be more oriented around adult interaction. This sheds some light on the adult/youth dynamic in the organization, as did an announcement on Twitter that asked “parents, teachers, activists” who had legal, accounting, fundraising, or social justice organizing experience to join the PSU board. Thus, while PSU wants to center youth voices to the greatest extent possible, it also wants to take advantage of Philadelphia’s network of progressive professional community members and parents who are eager to use their knowledge and expertise to join in the struggle for equitable public education.