Culture, Context, Crisis: Rural School Improvement Before and After Hurricane Harvey

• In Event: Navigating COVID-19 as Educational Leaders

Abstract

This interview study of one school principal uses an interpretive ethnographic theoretical lens (Wolcott, 2003; 2008) to tell a cultural story, including lessons learned, of how a school principal facilitates school improvement in the midst of a rural context and unprecedented circumstances. The authors wrote up a narrative that describes the findings in a way that represents the cultural dynamics of a unique context and circumstances associated to a location, a time, a place, and an event. Given our need to understand leadership in crisis, especially in light of the 2020 COVID-19 world pandemic, this chapter presents the story of Mrs. Jones that can serve as an additional heuristic to prepare other school leaders to lead in rural settings.

Authors

• Israel Aguilar, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

• Dessynie Edwards, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

• Hilda Silva, UTRGV

• Jesse Olivarez, Beville ISD

• Neda Goerlitz Ramirez, The University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley