The Cultural and Spatial Politics of Education in Texas During the COVID Pandemic

• In Event: An International Study of the Cultural and Spatial Politics of Education During the COVID Pandemic

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which public school teachers and administrators in 7 districts in Texas responded to the educational and social needs of their students during the COVID pandemic, spring 2019- fall 2021. The districts were located in both the central and southwestern part of the state and varied in terms of property wealth and degree of urbanicity. The student population in all of the districts is largely Mexican-American, but also includes refugees and asylum seekers. This research extends a 4-year qualitative study in which we examined whether and how these districts respond to the needs of their diverse student populations. Our study is also informed by one of the author’s experiences as a volunteer in a facility adjacent to 3 of the districts, that serves as a gathering place for refugees. In that capacity, the author tutored refugee children, ages 8-18, and served as liaison between the facility’s families and district administrators regarding academic and social issues involving refugee students.

Our findings indicate that the scope and severity of the pandemic required superintendents and principals to interact within and between a broader range of (often new) micro and macro systems, nested within one another (Brofenbrenner,1979) in responding to the academic, social, and physical well-being of students and staff. The extent of their success was also positively related to their ability to engage effectively with the various nested systems related to their work—particularly those with which they had limited or no previous experience, such as national and regional health agencies and numerous community volunteer groups that were created (oftentimes, hastily) to respond to various groups within the community, whose basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter were exacerbated by new health requirements that were put in place to reduce the transmission of COVID. Superintendents’ and principals’ success in providing stability to students, families, and staff was also related to the extent to which they were trusted by staff and community members (Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 1999) and the extent to which educational decision-making was centralized versus collaborative (Tierney, 2008) prior to the pandemic.

The data also reveal that the quality of students’ educational experiences varied across districts in disturbingly systematic ways (particularly for poor students, those with special needs, refugees and asylum seekers). We critique the toxic cultural politics of education (Peters & Chimedza, 2000; Rizvi & Lindgard, 2006) within the state, which contributes to these disparities, and portray the demonization of asylum seekers, the unrelenting determination of state legislators to construct a border wall, and the asymmetrical power relations within the state as continuing manifestations of the legacy of colonialism.

We also examine the spatial politics of education (Robertson, 2011; Soja, 1980; Warf & Arias, 2009) associated with the bordering of Texas and Mexico, the extent to which the geographic positioning of the school districts in our study affects the quality of educational experiences they are able to provide students, and we discuss the implications of the resulting inequalities, from a social justice perspective.

Authors

• Betty M. Merchant, The University of Texas - San Antonio

• Juan Manuel Nino, The University of Texas - San Antonio