Queer Resistance and School Improvement

• In Event: Queer Resistance, Detracking & Racelighting: A Historical Case of an Urban Mountain-West High School

Abstract

This presentation draws on a critical ethnographic study (Palmer & Caldas, 2015) conducted at Mountain-West High School between 2023-2024, examining how queer students of color mobilized resistance in response to intersectional surveillance and exclusion within the educational environment. Using oral histories and in-school observations, this research documents how queer youth of color navigated marginalization while simultaneously demanding institutional change.
For example, students described anti-queer and trans policies concerning book bans, bathrooms, and gendered sports teams as contributing to a hostile educational classroom climate which invalidated student identities. In response, youth participants engaged in walkouts—overt, visible acts that publicly challenged the status quo (Delgado Bernal, 1998). Other students participated in student government and the student senate, strategically working within institutional structures (Muñoz, 1999) to advocate for more inclusive policies and practices.
The analysis for this study applies Queer of Color Critique (Ferguson, 2004) to examine how these varied forms of resistance—both confrontational and embedded—catalyzed shifts in school culture, including decreased stigma of queer and trans communities and recognition by faculty. Yet over time, these strides were often partial or symbolic, underscoring the gap between student demands and long-term administrative implementation.
This research contributes to scholarship on educational leadership by illustrating how queer student resistance—both outside and inside formal school structures—can act as a critical lever for school improvement (Rottman, 2006). It also highlights the role of adult allies in translating student critique into educational reform. By centering the agency of queer youth, this research reimagines school improvement not as a top-down initiative but as a collaborative, justice-driven process forged through student activism and sustained engagement.

Author

• Sonny Partola, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point