The Mathematics of Parental Organizing Against Impending School Closures (Poster 12)

• In Event: Invited Division G Vice Presidential Poster Session

Abstract

We consider how parents organizing against school closures in a mid-sized suburban Texas district engaged in mathematical and political sensemaking as they worked to understand and intervene in the impending school closures. Drawing on critical race spatial analysis, we understand unequal racial histories and power relations as organizing the functioning of space. Consistent with the patterning of school closures across the US, the closure plans disproportionately impacted Latine and Black communities. Literature shows quantitative measures play a central role in school closure discourse. Evidence from fieldnotes, artifacts, and interviews illuminates how mathematics existed in parents’ sensemaking and organizing

Authors

• Emma Carene Gargroetzi, University of Texas at Austin

• Carlos Nicolas Gómez Marchant, University of Texas at Austin

• Alexandra Aguilar, University of Texas at Austin

• Scarlett Lea Calvin, University of Texas at Austin

• Carolynn Campbell Reed, University of Texas at Austin