Building and Maintaining School as Community in Pandemic Times

• In Event: Lessons From the Past, Present, and Future: The Evolving K–12 Responses to the COVID Crisis

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic took the world into crisis. We saw the virus alter a multitude of spheres worldwide, including our healthcare, economies, politics, social processes, and education. In fact, the impact of COVID-19 on educational administration took our leaders into forced emergency measures. Some administrators thrived and others floundered. Our study aims to better understand the experiences of educational administrators under an extreme crisis to ascertain what might be learned on how educational institutions may better respond to crisis in the future. These stories were collected from K-12 educational leaders throughout the United States.

In brief, we frame our study in the theory and literature associated with the complexity of leading in times of crisis. We explore the resiliency of leadership forged in crisis (Koehn, 2017; 2019) and the rethinking of administrative decision-making (Tooms, Lugg, & Bogotch, 2010) as it intersects with schools or units performing as communities (Author, in press; Watson & Bogotch, 2016) and administration as a caring act (Author, 2020; Sergiovanni, 1994a; 1994b).

Our research began as a standard phenomenological interview study, but transitions into a two-round project, where after the first interview, participants were invited to share some images that typify and speak to the experiences being educational administrators during this time. We are engaging in sensitive topics that are on-going and changing. Moreover, we are asking for images that speak to their experiences. Anytime photos are involved in research, ethical concerns must be addressed, and we must engage in continuous and on-going consent (author, 2020). Furthermore, by spending time with these individuals remotely, via Zoom, when a vast majority of the world is exhausted from Zoom, we risk engaging in hard by further extending their time in this space in which the non-affective affective relationship produces more exhaustion. In sum, this section not only speaks specifically about the methods of research but spends the majority of its considerations on the ethics of engaging in research that is traumatic and timely.

Our findings indicated varied responses, from immediate to delayed administrative action. Although they looked contextually different, there are clear indications the participants valued continuous, transparent communication, technological support to ease the transition into the virtual world, and discussions and actions centered around diversity, equity, and inclusion. In our discussion, we elaborate on the distinction between what the institutional response was as compared to what was valued by our educational leaders. In addition, we discuss how these values guided the individual responses of our educational leaders to enhance their responsiveness to their immediate educational communities. Finally, as a contribution to the field, we seek to provide guidance for future administrators in crisis based on our own experiences and the recommendations provided by our educational leaders.

Authors

• Linsay DeMartino, Illinois State University

• S. Gavin Weiser, Illinois State University