How Students in Seattle Got More School Counselors—Paid for by the City’s Wealthiest Corporations

Seattle, Wash.—Agnes Leapai, a social worker at Franklin High School, found out two of her students were living in a car some nights—so she booked them a motel. She regularly works to find food, clothes and pay bills for struggling families, including a lot of impoverished single mothers. “My work isn’t confined to the school,” she said. Every Friday during the last school year she worked a shift at her school from 8 am to 4 pm and then at a homeless shelter from 8 pm to 8 am on Saturday mornings. She sees some of her students at the shelter. For Thanksgiving, she found 20 turkeys for homeless students.

Agnes is one of the many Seattle Public School social workers and counselors who provide vital support to thousands of students every year. But she and her colleagues are stretched to the breaking point. Students in Seattle schools, like students everywhere in the United States, struggle with mental health issues and the stresses of teenage life that multiply when your housing, food, and social supports are unstable. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among teenagers and young adults in the United States, and nearly one in five high school students reports serious thoughts of suicide, according to a University of Caliornia–Los Angeles publication.

The system is failing students, and social workers like Agnes. Too many politicians and school administrators have thrown their hands up, saying there’s little that can be done to change things.

But this year, a group of students in the Seattle Student Union proved them wrong. Composed of middle and high school students from across the city, the Seattle Student Union formed two years ago to fight for the needs of students. We began by winning N95 masks for all students and school staff in Seattle at the height of the pandemic. Then, after a school shooting at Ingraham High School in north Seattle a year ago, we mobilized thousands of students to walk out of school and rally at Seattle City Hall. Just after that, we won $4.5 million in new city funding for school counselors.

This November we demanded $20 million—a whole lot more money. We also demanded that the money come from a tax on the biggest businesses in the city. As a result, we got a lot of negative attention from Amazon, headquartered in Seattle and one of the largest companies in the world.

“I support your demand, but you’re never going to win,” the Seattle City Council’s budget chair told us. The Seattle Times editorial board criticized us, as did the local chamber of commerce.

Some students said the same thing: “It’s not going to happen, not this year.”

“We need to try,” we said. And so we did. We organized thousands of students, first to sign a petition. Next, hundreds e-mailed the Seattle City Council. The most committed students showed up at city hall and waited hours to testify.

We had one ally on the city council who unwaveringly took up our fight. The $20 million budget amendment was introduced by city councillor Kshama Sawant—a socialist who’s proven over and over again to be a strong ally of the Seattle Student Union. She provided us with advice on how to mobilize students and counselors, and she opened up her office so we could make rally signs and get ready for the public hearing.