Aiming to Legitimize or Silence: Exploring Black Community Participation and School Board Meeting Organizational Culture

• In Event: Engagement of Black Students and Families: Youth, Community, and School Leaders

Abstract

Community engagement in education reform is seen as a necessary component of school change, yet the spaces provided for community feedback have often been sites of frustration for Black community stakeholders invested in structural changes in schools. This case study aims to further understand the relationship between Black community stakeholders and the school decision-making spaces we engage in by investigating how the organizational practices, norms, and culture of school board meetings shape the legitmization or dismissal of Black community voices. Preliminary findings suggest that how Black community stakeholders participated in the space shaped how meeting practices and policies were changed to limit engagement, however it did not limit how Black community members constructed the meeting space to amplify their voice.

Author

• Virginia Downing, University of Wisconsin - Madison