Competing Narratives: Interrogating How Policymakers and Community Members Construct Value Amidst School Closure Debates

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Research on School Closures, Zoning Policies, and De/Segregation (Table 9)

Abstract

This paper interrogates official district narratives surrounding school closure decisions, probing connections between the racialized social construction of places, closure justifications, and resulting repurposing and programming decisions. We examine public responses to official narratives, asking how constituents conceptualize community identities and negotiate the value of their places as experts and agents in their communities. We situate the study in Jackson, Mississippi where, in the 2023-2024 school year, the Jackson Public Schools (JPS) board voted to close 13 of the district’s 42 schools. Informed by research demonstrating how school closure reifies racial capitalist structures through the racialization of space and using methodologies of critical policy analysis and counternarrative, we explore how community members experience and resist push out in closure processes.

Authors

• Kathryn James McGraw, Vanderbilt University

• Tia R. Williams, Vanderbilt University