Resources for Families
Talking to your young child about the strike:
You know your child best. Below are ideas and language that you can use, but feel free to speak with your child in any way that is open, honest and comforting. Remember that this is an evolving conversation which will continue throughout the duration of the strike. Allow your child to ask questions, and answer them honestly. Don’t be afraid to say, “That’s a great question and I don’t know the answer. What do you think?”
Make sure that your child knows that strikes are effective ways of protesting and getting everyone’s attention, that they are temporary, and that the strike is about grown-ups and is not because of, or about, kids. Remind them that all adults at BFS care about them. This is also a great moment to learn more about the labor movement, strikes, and unions (see below for online resources, books, and films).
Talking points
BFS workers want to have a union so that decisions in the school get made in a fair way.
The strike is a way of protesting and telling everyone that having a union is very important.
Workers at BFS love and care about students and want to see them as soon as their union is safe. Everyone wants the strike to end.
Strikes are temporary.
Remember other times that were difficult and how you coped.
Ideas for Staying Connected to the Community
It is important not to cross the picket line, but many families are working together to plan in-person or virtual meet ups with their pod/class-mates to maintain connections and address childcare needs. Be in touch with other families. You are not in this alone.
Come to our picket lines! Our daily picket lines run weekdays from 6:30–9:30 AM. They are family friendly. If your child is sensitive to sound, consider bringing noise cancelling headphones and arrive early so we can point you to a quieter picketing location!
Make supportive posters for pickets or to post on social media.
Follow social media accounts for updates, activities and events:
Online Resources:
“Teaching Activities, Guides, and Other Resources on Labor,” Zinn Education Project (all ages)
Power in Our Hands: A Curriculum on the History of Work & Workers in the United States, William Bigelow (Upper School)
“I'm a High Schooler in Los Angeles. I'm Standing with my Teachers on Strike.” Washington Post (Middle School and Upper School)
“Strikes 101,” Jobs with Justice (Middle School and Upper School)
Books:
Rise Up Singing: The Group Singing Songbook, Peter Blood (all ages)
Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin (Preschool and Lower School)
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt (Preschool and Lower School)
The Bobbin Girl by Emily Arnold McCully (Lower School)
Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel (Lower School)
César Chávez: Fighting for Farmworkers by Eric Braun (Lower School)
Mother Jones: Labor Leader by Connie Colwell Miller (Lower School)
Sí Se Puede/Yes We Can: Janitor Strike in L.A. by Diana Cohn (Lower School)
Side by Side/Lado a Lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and César Chavéz / La Historia de Dolores Huerta y César Chávez by Monica Brown (Lower School)
That’s Not Fair!: Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice / ¡No Es Justo!: La Lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la Justicia by Carmen Tafolla and Sharyll Teneyuca (Lower School)
We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin by Larry Dane Brimner (Lower School)
Which Side Are You On? The Story of a Song by George Ella Lyon (Lower School)
Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson (Lower School and Middle School)
Fannie Never Flinched: One Woman’s Courage in the Struggle for American Union Labor Rights by Mary Cronk Farrell (Lower School and Middle School)
Lyddie by Katherine Paterson (Lower and Middle School)
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop! The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan (Lower School and Middle School)
Missing from Haymarket Square by Harriette Gillem Robinet (Lower and Middle School)
Kids On Strike! by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Middle School)
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Disasters in History) by Jessica Gunderson (Middle School)
The Pullman Strike of 1894 by Rosemary Laughlin (Middle School and Upper School)
Strike!: The Farm Workers’ Fight for Their Rights by Larry Dane Brimner (Middle and Upper School)
Troublemaker for Justice: The Story of Bayard Rustin, The Man Behind The March on Washington by Jacqueline Houtman, Walter Naegle, and Michael G. Long (Middle and Upper School)
Clara and Merritt by Peter Donahue (Upper School)
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich (Upper School)
There Is Power in A Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America by Philip Dray (Upper School)
Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Upper School)
Work Song by Ivan Doig (Upper School)
Film and Television:
Lower School and Up:
Middle School and Up:
The Simpsons, "Last Exit to Springfield" (Season 4, Episode 17)
Sister, Sister, “Paper or Plastic?” (Season 3, Episode 17)
Superstore, "Labor" (Season 1, Episode 11)
Upper School and Up: