When School Suddenly Stopped

• In Event: Women in Educational Leadership: Understanding Stress, Emotional Labor, and Resilience in Unique Contexts

Abstract

Certain leadership strategies and behaviors are particularly helpful for leaders in PK-12 educational settings to remain effective through school-related emergencies and crisis events. Using a narrative analysis approach, this chapter analyzes the crisis experience of Dr. Daphne Alexander, a K-12 superintendent with over 25 years in the field of education, who offers a glimpse into how to ensure that leaders’ personal and professional lives do not collide as the result of impending threats in their educational settings. The study summarizes evidence-based leadership shifts and insights based on their importance and prevalence in literature grounded in crisis management, emotional intelligence, and emotional intelligence. The insight from Dr. Alexander suggests that leaders adopt five key leadership shifts to effectively and efficiently guide their teams through school-related emergencies and crisis events in intense difficulty, uncertainty, and physical and psychological peril: (1) safeguard mental health and social well-being, (2) collaborate effectively with all stakeholders, connect within and outside of your organization, always prioritize academics, and engage in reflective practices. Dr. Alexander’s insights are rooted in Boin et al. 's (2017) strategic crisis leadership tasks of sensemaking, decision-making and coordinating, meaning-making, accounting, and learning (p.15).
By embracing these key strategic leader shifts, leaders successfully navigate crises and foster a culture of resilience and empowerment within their K-12 settings. The findings have implications for educational leadership practice and policy, offering recommendations for fostering a culture of resilience and well-being in K-12 settings. Overall, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the transformative role of women leaders in K-12 education, offering insights for enhancing leadership effectiveness and promoting inclusive practices in times of crisis.

Author

• Felicia Turner, Baylor University