Abstract
The case of Allen Elementary School presents tangled narratives and wicked problems describing the multidimensionality of school community work. Using multiple converging and diverging vignettes, the case points to the distinctiveness of individual experience in schools; the ways institutionalized organizational narratives become cultural resources for framing, scripting, and revising problems as plots; and the interdependence of micro- and macro processes. Drawing from work on organizational narratives, situated problems, and politics, the case asks students to consider (a) the improvisational character of organizational narratives authored by leaders for particular publics with particular interests, (b) the social and cultural construction of leadership, and (c) how organizational narratives and the construction of leadership play into public engagement by enlarging/diminishing scope of conflict.
Case Narrative
Allen Elementary School is located on the fringe of a Midwestern U.S. city serving more than 800 Pre-K through fifth graders. In response to a perceived “failure” of public schools, the governor and state superintendent of public instruction have introduced numerous reforms over the last couple of years. These reform efforts encourage proliferation of charter schools, use of vouchers to support choice options within the private education sector, adoption of private sector–type accountability systems based on precisely defined outcome measures, and state-initiated revision of standards for school leaders removing prior language around understanding local contexts. Such complexity often coincides with conflict and is further complicated by increased enrollments of immigrant and refugee populations in a context of growing anti-immigrant sentiment.
Allen’s community has changed dramatically over the last dozen years. The overall student enrollment has grown from 600 to more than 800 students, making it the largest elementary school in the district. Also of note is the school’s demographic shift. Since 1999, although percentages of Black and Asian students remained relatively stable, the school saw dramatic shifts in the Hispanic, White, and Multiracial 1 identified populations. In 1999, 2.5% were Hispanic, 65.6% White, and 3.1% Multiracial. In contrast, by 2009, Hispanic students comprised 40.7% of the population, Whites numbered 23.9%, and Multiracial students grew to 9.2% of the student population. The English language learning population has also grown. In 1999, approximately 4% or 30 students were designated Limited English Proficient (LEP). By 2009, this number rose to over 300 LEP students. Students speak 27 languages and come from 25 countries. Seventy percent of the students qualify for free lunch and another 5% qualify for reduced lunches. Academically, a wide range of abilities are represented. Up until this year, the school has made consistent gains in the state testing program; this year is the 1st year the school has not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
Cynthia Jones has been principal of Allen for 9 years. She served as assistant principal for this school and one other before returning to take up the principalship. Her long tenure in the district as a strong teacher and principal has enabled her to develop productive relationships with district administrators and the community at large. The staff range in experience from 1 to 40 years, and there is relatively little turnover. Although the Allen teaching faculty does not reflect the diverse student population, an atypical number of instructional aids fluent in Spanish and Burmese provide support in native language support, newcomer, and sheltered English instruction classrooms, as well as in translating communication sent home to families, such as school newsletters, permission slips, and announcements. This year, Allen Elementary became the first school in the district to offer a weekly Spanish class for all students.
In response to rapid changes in student population size and demographics, the school has established numerous community partnerships with local businesses, not-for-profit agencies, churches, service organizations, and other community groups. These partnerships provide volunteers, afterschool program, preschool, a health clinic, scholarships, staff resources, and so forth. Cynthia is well regarded throughout the community because of her visible and active connections with community councils and agencies. In fact, the wealth of community partnerships is considered one of Allen’s major strengths.
Vignette 1: An Apartment Complex Fire, Recent Refugees, and the English as a Second Language (ESL) Coach
As Jennifer drove up to the apartments, she could not help but think about how her professional life had changed so drastically in the course of a year. She had left classroom teaching to become the districtwide ESL coach and could not have anticipated the work that lay ahead of her. Only a few months ago, she began to feel a sense of progress and hope within the walls of these apartments. She helped to start a summer lunch program to deliver meals to recently arrived immigrant and refugee families. Beyond serving basic needs, she had gained a better sense of the community, and they had come to know her as an advocate. What once were distant and bewildered looks on their faces slowly but surely transformed into looks of recognition and appreciation. But over the weekend, a fire at a neighboring complex left the community once again in turmoil and distress. Progress made was overshadowed by the devastation. Families were now doubled and tripled up in these apartments. Material loss was significant, however, for this community, it was the emotional and psychological toll that sent the students and parents reeling yet again.
Looking to her backseat, Jennifer knew the bags of clothes and shoes collected at the church-sponsored drive would be appreciated. However, she was more concerned about the school’s capacity to support the mental well-being of a community that had only begun to deal with the loss of their homeland, separation from loved ones, challenges of being in a place that demanded radical shifts in communication, making a living, establishing homes, and raising children. Although prior waves of refugee resettlement had sensitized many in the metro area to the particular needs of individuals fleeing war-torn countries, the larger Allen community, while not hostile, did not know quite what to make of the multiple ethnic and language groups from Burma. As pressing as these questions of emotional and psychological wellness were, seeing the half dozen students peering down at her through what she knew was the window to a one-bedroom apartment jolted her thoughts to more immediate matters. She knew the temporarily displaced families would have ramifications for school transportation, student attendance, emergency notifications, and protocols, to name a few. Reaching for her phone, Jennifer needed to make sure Cynthia Jones was aware of the situation and that these issues were brought to the Allen Community Council meeting that evening.
Vignette 2: Business Corp Partnership Planning and Community Mental Health
Judith Scofield checked in at the main office of Allen Elementary and waited for the Principal’s secretary to walk her to the conference room. She always enjoyed visiting Allen where walls were adorned in murals, student work, announcements, and even “data walls” where teachers periodically posted student learning data in the hallways. Students walked down the halls with their teachers, smiling, greeting guests, stepping out of line when they saw the principal to get a hug. Today, Judith was greeted by a large banner in the main hallway that said, “Thank You, Business Corp!” She smiled. Judith was the liaison between The Business Corp, a network of business organizations in the region, and Allen Elementary for 6 years. The Business Corp–Allen partnership was responsible for underwriting family fun days, a pen-pal and reading buddy program, and most recently, the salary of a mental health counselor at the school. Judith was proud of this partnership; every year they were able to do more. She was confident the partnership’s success was due to her working relationship with Cynthia Jones.
Arriving at the conference room, the secretary informed Judith that Ms. Jones was on her way. Judith thanked her and took a folder out of her bag. This was their annual meeting to review the data they had collected on the various partnership programs and begin planning for the next year. “It is really nice to be involved in something where you can actually say you are making a difference,” thought Judith. The door to the conference room opened and Cynthia entered, with a smile and a stack of spreadsheets. Another thing Judith liked about Cynthia was that she did not waste any time.
Judith and Cynthia spent the next 30 min reviewing data they had collected about various programs. They agreed the pen-pal program in second grade was not working well, and this program worked better in Grades 3 and 4. Instead, they would focus the Reading Buddy program at the second grade. They also discussed the successful training that Allen teachers provided the adult “pen pals,” volunteers from local businesses, focusing on how to support English Language Learners—methods such as including context clues, pictures, repetitive vocabulary, and so forth. Cynthia always said, “If these partnerships do not help my students learn, then we don’t need them. And if the partners are not willing to commit, then we would rather you not be involved at all.”
The most impressive partnership resource, to Judith, was the full-time mental health counselor the Business Corp Network funded at Allen. Unheard of in other elementary schools in the district, the plan was to establish a fully operational health clinic at Allen the following year. Staffed by a registered nurse, this additional support for students and families was a coup for the school. Judith had been instrumental to negotiating an agreement between the district and a local hospital while Cynthia screened and selected Amanda, the counselor.
Amanda walked by the conference room on her way to her office. Seeing Judith and Cynthia at the conference table, she sighed. Somehow moving from part-time to full-time had not made her caseload feel any more manageable. “I wonder if Business Corp people even know that half of my cases are families that are probably undocumented. I bet half of these people don’t even pay taxes.” When she got to her desk, she began to make “call slips” for students with whom she wanted to check in. The flashing red light on her phone caught her eye. She had two voicemail messages. The first was from Jennifer, the ESL coach, alerting her about an apartment fire over the weekend and the displaced families. The second was from Cynthia. Cynthia wanted to report on the school’s response to the apartment fire situation at that evening’s community council meeting. She wanted to touch base with Amanda about a strategy before the meeting.
Vignette 3: Framing Public and Private Perspectives of AYP
Elizabeth parked her car and began to gather her things. “This is going to be interesting,” she thought, grabbing her briefcase, a stack of folders and her coffee, and heading in to the monthly districtwide Elementary Principals Meeting. Elizabeth was in her 2nd year as a district literacy coach for four elementary schools. It was a busy year. On top of coaching teachers and assisting schools in implementing their School Improvement Plans, Elizabeth provided professional development for new elementary teachers. This year, the director of elementary education, Dr. Karen Wilson, also directed literacy coaches to support implementation of two major district initiatives: an elementary-level International Baccalaureate (IB) program and School-Wide Title I program. At today’s meeting, Elizabeth was to present a PowerPoint detailing the professional development available through December and a list of literacy resources for all elementary grade levels, targeting specific districtwide literacy goals.
This would have been a relatively routine interaction with principals, except for one thing. Yesterday, the newspapers published school ratings based on standardized test scores. For the first time, three elementary schools, including Allen, did not make “Adequate Yearly Progress.” Internally, the district administrators predicted as much, explaining that rapid growth in student population, generally, and in the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, would make it very difficult to “make” AYP under the current system. In addition, district leaders were confident that schools were systematically addressing instructional needs given their attention to demographic shift over the last several years. Efforts phased in over time include the use of periodic assessments, targeted instructional interventions including districtwide teacher trainings for instruction of English Language Learners, implementation of IB, and most recently, a shift to School-Wide Title I. However, none of this precluded the public relations problems it created for the principals.
As Elizabeth entered the conference room where the meeting was to take place, she made a beeline to Dr. Wilson, who showed her a revised agenda. “I need to address AYP first,” Dr. Wilson told her. “You can present after that discussion.” After chatting over coffee and bagels, the principals settled into their seats, and Dr. Wilson called the meeting to order, immediately acknowledging the AYP press.
Some of you are bound to get questions from parents or community members. It is important to emphasize district initiatives directed at supporting our students and teachers, such as the new International Baccalaureate program. This is still a great district. We are growing fast, and we are responding innovatively to the diverse needs in the community, while maintaining high quality instruction and services.
The principal from Meadow Elementary raised her hand. “What do we tell people who want to know our rationale for going ‘School-Wide Title I’?” Dr. Wilson nodded in recognition, Going “school-wide” with our Title I services means that we can be more flexible with offering academic support to any student who needs it. We will not be restricted by whether a student qualifies or not. This is a good thing.
She paused. “But we are not going School-Wide Title I because we are becoming a ‘poor district.’ You don’t want to say that.” As she listened to the conversation, Elizabeth wondered to herself how the elementary school communities she serves would interpret “School-Wide Title I.” Although she knew many families would not notice this shift, nor concern themselves with what it meant for students, she could imagine how school savvy parents might respond whose primary concern was with their children’s school pedigree.
The Allen Community Council Meeting
Cynthia’s efforts to position Allen Elementary as a community school include reporting to the Allen Community Council. The council came about when community and business leaders wanted to better understand the racial, cultural, and economic dynamics across the wider community. The monthly meetings provide opportunities for Cynthia to paint a portrait of what is occurring in the community from the public school perspective. Through these meetings, the council is better informed about innovative partnerships across faith-based, for-profit, and not-for-profit organizations Cynthia and her staff have nurtured. Seeing relationships with those who desire connections with Allen as always reciprocal, Cynthia informs the council on matters of significance to its members; however, she also seeks input on and active support of school activities (e.g., fundraising, food and clothing drives, piloting full-day pre-kindergarten, developing and sustaining the positive neighborhood image, and quality of life).
Tonight’s community council meeting is the first since data on state standardized exams and status on AYP were made public. Cynthia knew Dr. Wilson’s words of caution earlier that day were important to remember as she responded to community concerns. At the same time, she had worked too hard to build strong relationships with the school partners. She knew that some community council members would not be satisfied if it appeared she was delivering the “company line.” Cynthia had been apprised of other pressing school community matters that would likely surface during the meeting. The newly established school health clinic and the full-time mental health counselor would certainly help to serve students and their families in the aftermath of the apartment fires. However, she hoped the Allen Community Council might lend support to an increasingly fragile community. She had her doubts though. At a prior council meeting, Cynthia asked Jennifer to talk about her work with newly resettled refugees as a way to inform the council of this new subpopulation. Cynthia had not forgotten the comments she heard that evening. “They’ve been living in unsanitary conditions in refugee camps. Aren’t you worried they might be carrying contagious diseases?” “Do they understand that public welfare is a privilege and not a right?” “I’ve seen groups of them walking on busy roads, they’re a hazard to public safety.”
Teaching Notes
The narrative(s) are intentionally presented in distinct vignettes to represent the complex nature of work in this school community. The three vignettes represent a selection of possible vignettes that are lived daily in this school—diverging and intersecting at different times and through different events, positioning and situating actors differently. It is the multiplicity and polyphony of vignettes that constitute the tangled realities of organizational life. Below, we suggest three perspectives from which students might approach analysis (i.e., organizational narratives, situated problems, and politics) and activities related to the case narrative(s). Depending on the course level, instructors’ pedagogical intent, and course sessions allocated to the case, the narrative may be used in part or as a whole. Similarly, recommended analytic frames might be used in concert or singly as fits with course content.
In the following section, we provide brief overviews of Schattschneider’s scope of conflict and public engagement, Czarniawska’s organizational narratives, and Grint’s situated leadership to frame three sets of discussion questions and two learning activities for instructors’ consideration. Although each of the three perspectives described bring distinct theories and concepts to bear on organizations, leadership, and politics, a common assumption across the three perspectives is a constructivist epistemology. That is, realities are not predetermined nor fixed, rather our realities are socially and culturally constructed in context, dialogically among individuals. As others have noted, conceiving social problems and complexities as fixed and stable limits our abilities to imagine a wider array of possibilities. In particular, it limits our abilities to imagine solutions beyond the technical and moral, beyond a common sense that often conforms to narratives of inevitabilities. Understanding social problems as socially and culturally constructed, reflecting the values, interests, his or her stories, and mores of individuals and groups reveals how schools are perpetual “arenas of struggle” (Anderson, 1996). In so doing, what may have appeared inevitable might be renarrated, reconstructed, or reframed otherwise, thus opening up possibilities for alternative action.
Scope of Conflict and Public Engagement
The community council meeting is a setting where various issues may evolve, or explode, into conflict. Schattschneider (1975) provides a useful lens through which to analyze and role-play the political theater that could ensue. Schattschneider’s privatization and socialization of conflict explain the role audiences play in changing the nature of conflict, and how power can shift among actors depending on this dynamic. In his classic analysis of democracy in the United States, Schattschneider problematizes simplistic notions of democracy as governance reflecting the will of the people. Rather, he highlights uneven political processes by which advantages accrue to economic and political elites. However, such unevenly tilted political terrain is not inevitable.
Schattschneider (1975) understood conflict to be the root of politics. He explored the importance of acknowledging the many potential conflicts that compete—conflict of conflicts—for dominance and a place on the popular public agenda. Through the socialization of conflict, scope of conflict—the intensity of conflict as well as the extent to which individuals and groups become engaged—is often enlarged. Thus, socialization attempts to bring what would otherwise remain within a private realm of decision making into the public consciousness. In this way, “conflicts open up questions for public intervention. Out of conflict the alternatives of public policy arise. Conflict is the occasion for political organization and leadership” (Schattschneider, 1975, p. 135). Through public intervention, conflicts, which may otherwise have been resolved in private, may be shaped, reshaped, and struggled over in ways that might shift often-sedimented political relations.
In enlarging the scope of conflict to mobilize and extend engagement, particular conflicts get pushed to the fore. Larson’s (1997) sociopolitical examination of a critical incident in one high school sheds light on how extending scope of conflict raises into consciousness alternative definitions of conflict. It too illuminates Schattschneider’s (1975) concern over “whoever decides what the game is about decides also who can get into the game” (p. 102). López (2003) advocates analyses of conflict and politics in schools informed by critical race theory to account for historical effects of racism. As is reflected in Larson’s study, racism certainly infuses the scope of conflict with a depth that often goes ignored, or silenced, by virtue of its taken-for-granted, institutionalized status. Larson’s account might suggest that socialization of conflict may work in the interest of those most often marginalized and underserved. However, it would be naïve to assume that this is everywhere true. In their accounts of a Vietnamese Language and Culture program, Nguyen and Maxcy (2010) and Nguyen (2010) caution that for vulnerable communities, self-determination may be best served when hidden scripts (Scott, 1990) remain in the shadows, that participation within uneven political arrangements often activates “new governmentalities and invokes new forms of discipline and control” (Nguyen & Maxcy, 2010, p. 202).
Students can discuss the following questions:
What issues might fuel political conflict at the community council meeting (and beyond)? In what ways might these issues be privatized? With what consequences? And for whom? In what ways might these issues be socialized? With what consequences? And for whom?
Discuss how different actors define the conflicts, how such definition enhances/inhibits the privatization/socialization of conflict, and with what consequences for whom. For example, how does Dr. Wilson’s framing of School-Wide Title I privatize the issue of an increasingly poorer student population in the district? What are the potential conflicts and consequences of socializing the knowledge of greater poverty in a district transitioning out of stable affluence?
How are various actors in the vignettes (or implicated in the vignettes, if not explicitly present) situated in relation to each issue? Discuss how the presence/absence of particular “audiences” changes the nature of conflict?
Organizational Narratives
Czarniawska-Joerges (2008) argues that organizational theory has been trapped in structural analyses and pays too little attention to the actions entailed in organizing. That is, organizational theorists have long focused on organizational charts and roles, policy and procedural documents, size, divisions of labor, and patterns of task coordination—what Czarniawska-Joerges refers to as the “nouns” of organizations. Rather, she advocates focusing on the “verbs,” explaining that organizations are constituted by “action nets”—regular and connected activities among and between actors—which are the locus of the acts of organizing. It is in these connections, within and between organizations, that organizing activities produce the actors inasmuch as they produce actors’ identities. Thus, by paying attention to these action nets, one can get a sense of what it means to be an actor in a given context and how these identities (professional and organizational) influence strategic responses to organizational problems and threats. Action nets, as they become stabilized, fuel institutionalized organizational narratives that become cultural resources for framing, scripting, and revising problems as plots (Czarniawska-Joerges, 2008). Actors are cast into particular roles—situating them in particular ways in relation to the problem, structures, and other actors, thus producing implications for their actions (Czarniawska-Joerges & Hopfl, 2002). In the ongoing construction of the organizational narratives, participants are cast in ways that may advantage or disadvantage them, enabling, inhibiting, or frustrating action. Similarly, Harré and Slocum (2003) explain that individuals are positioned—and accept, resist, or revise these positions—in conversation and interaction with others. Positioning theory calls attention to “how persons are ‘located’ within conversations as observably and subjectively coherent participants in jointly produced storylines” (Harré & Van Langenhove, 1999, p. 61). These positions imply “a cluster of rights and duties with respect to the acts one is enabled to accomplish as an occupant of a position” (Harré & Slocum, 2003, p. 125).
The degree to which organizational narratives reinforce and/or are reinforced by local and/or wider institutional narratives influences their power and reification. At the same time, the array of narratives within an organization, by virtue of diverse and differentiated roles, spaces, and positions (formal and informal) within an organization, offer multiple resources for authoring revised narratives, serving a variety of interests. Actors draw from a repertoire of institutional, organizational, and local cultural resources to make sense of and respond to events and conflicts that arise in organizational settings (Swidler, 2001). An organizational narrative perspective calls attention to these instances of authorship. Organizational actors, notably leaders, author texts for their publics, that is, partners, collaborators, subordinates, supervisors, clients, or competitors, and so forth (Czarniawska-Joerges, 1997). Leaders do so to interpret events in and around schools and communicate organizational responses to such events. Weick (2001) explains, leaders improvise on a repertoire of experiences, knowledge, and practices (the substance of organizational narratives) by offering variations, embellishments, or riffs on familiar themes or routines. Interpreting converging narratives and revising them is part of what leaders do. This perspective assumes, then, leaders who do this well understand, “uncertainty must be accepted as part of the human condition and that acting in spite of it is necessary—with the courage that results from a great deal of practice and improvisation” (Czarniawska, 2009, p. 168).
Drawing from an understanding of organizational narratives and the leadership practices such a perspective implies, students can entertain the following questions:
How are particular actors cast into roles in each vignette? Which actors have been cast who might not have appeared explicitly in the narratives, and how so? How do the different vignettes cast similar actors in different ways?
Identify institutional narratives (policy, societal, cultural) that may be traced in various perspectives in the vignette. To what extent, and in what ways, might awareness of these wider narratives influence Cynthia Jones’s actions?
Where are the congruencies and conflicts among the various narratives you have identified within the vignettes (and your knowledge of the case background)?
Consider your own formal role in the organization, as defined by a structural approach to understanding (often characterized by organizational charts, chain of command, decomposition/recomposition of work, and division and coordination of tasks). In what ways might the sphere of influence implied in the formal role over-/underdetermine organizing of schools?
From “Situation” to “Situated”
Grint’s (2005) discussion of the social construction of leadership illumines assumptions underpinning two popular accounts of leadership. The first account privileges individuals in formal roles of authority endowed with characteristics and dispositions requisite for leading. The second account suggests situations ought to dictate leaders’ responses in particular contexts. According to Grint, both accounts fail. The former posits individual leaders as independent agents “able to manipulate the world at will” (p. 1471), while the latter presumes given contexts are immutable and limit human agency. Grint, however, asserts “leadership involves the social construction of the context that both legitimates a particular form of action and constitutes the world in the process” (p. 1471). That is, human agents and social contexts are not independent of one another. Rather, how situations are defined and framed—that is, how they are socially constructed through individual and collective histories, ideologies, interests, values, and so on—constrains what we perceive and conceive as possible. Stated differently, the range of questions, considerations, and actions available to us are illumined or obscured as a result of competing renderings of reality.
Drawing on prior work by Rittell and Webber, Grint (2005) proposes a typology of problems to help distinguish among three forms of authority—command, management, and leadership. The proposed typology of problems—critical, tame, and wicked—are not fixed categories to which self-evident situations might be assigned but rather are distinct forms by which individuals constitute situations. In brief, critical situations are framed as crises “self-evident in nature, as encapsulating very little time for decision-making and action, and it is often associated with authoritarianism” (Grint, 2005, p. 1473). There is little ambiguity over what needs to be done; consequently, command is deployed through decisive action. Tame problems are resolvable, have likely occurred before, and are associated with a limited degree of uncertainty. Such problems are managed through appropriate processes. Finally, wicked problems are characterized by complexity, intractability, no final resolutions, “any apparent ‘solution’ often generates other ‘problems’, and there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer” (Grint, 2005, p. 1473), only better or worse alternatives. Grint associates wicked problems with leadership, which demands asking “the right questions rather than provid[ing] the right answers” (p. 1473, italics in the original). Wicked problems are not readily defined and solutions not readily identified. This last one points to the “Irony of Leadership.” That is, when intractable problems are constructed as irresolvable, leadership is often cast as indecisiveness. Thus, even when deemed appropriate to situate problems as wicked, individuals may find the proposition too risky to pursue.
Warner and Grint (2006) further complicate notions of leadership. Although Grint proposed the social construction of leadership, through Warner’s work with American Indians, Warner and Grint reveal the extent to which leadership is also culturally constructed. They find that “western models are rooted in positional approaches, despite their assertions to the contrary, whereas Indian models are more concerned with persuasive techniques” (Warner & Grint, 2006, p. 240, italics in the original). That is, positional approaches often privilege understandings of leadership as operating through formal roles of authority. Consequently, such approaches tend toward individualistic and hierarchical forms of organization/organizing. In contrast, Warner and Grint suggest that within some traditional American Indian communities, leadership is open to anyone with the skill to persuade (they explore four forms of persuasion). This culturally constructed understanding of leadership expands “western” conceptions (we use “western” to conform to Warner and Grint’s discussion; however, it is important to recognize the danger of casting leadership across multiple geographies and traditions in such monolithic terms) to include foci on the individual and collective, hierarchic and nonhierarchic, formal and informal. Although Grint’s socially constructed leadership does not preclude notions of culturally constructed leadership, it might presume common understandings of “problems” that are often distinctly informed by cultural norms and mores.
The following questions suggest points of departure for classroom discussion:
Drawing from Grint, how might the problems presented in the vignettes be framed as alternately critical, tame, and wicked?
What are the consequences of framing the vignettes in these distinct ways for different actors?
Select one vignette and frame the problems therein as wicked. What questions might leadership ask in this instance?
In what ways might culturally constructed leadership enable alternative framings of the vignettes?
Learning Activities
In addition to the discussion questions above, students might also engage in activities that provide opportunities for practice and analysis of issues and perspectives raised by the case. We suggest two learning activities below.
Email to Community Council Chair
Students should compose an email to the community council chairperson as if they were the principal, Cynthia Jones. The email is being composed the afternoon of the meeting and is intended to communicate suggested additions to the agenda as well as frame their significance. Once composed and printed, in small groups, students should provide critical and constructive feedback to their peers. Authors of emails should be prepared to justify their agenda recommendations and the way in which they framed the items. For example, they should speak to their choice of language, their prioritization, and other matters relevant to the content of the email. Finally, students can role-play an interaction with the chairperson after she or he has read the email.
Community Council Role-Play
Students can role-play the community council meeting. The role-play can be carried out in class in multiple ways. First, students should be informed of the cast of characters who will be present at the community council meeting. Then, in pairs or small groups, students should construct the meeting agenda. Students can share their agendas and justifications for its content with the whole group, or agendas can be “drawn” to guide the role-play activity, and then justification for the agenda can be discussed afterward.
The suggested roles listed below may be disclosed to the group. Instructors may decide to adapt the detailed descriptions for community actors or may ask students to provide their own. An agenda should be created by the chair and the principal, and shared with the role-players and the class. Depending on the size of the class, small groups might take turns enacting the role-play using different agendas, and the audience can analyze the role-play from each of the three perspectives described in the Teaching Notes.
Community Council Actors
Cynthia Jones (Allen Elementary School principal)
As principal of Allen Elementary School, Cynthia is aware of the multiple interests and potential conflicts that may ensue at this meeting and in anticipation would like to steer the discussion away from such conflict to maintain a focus on the success and innovations in place at Allen. She is committed to supporting the emotional, physical, and intellectual well-being of the Allen Elementary students. She also understands that without partners and community support, she would not have ample resources to support the various initiatives at the school, such as food, clothing and book drives, afterschool tutoring, mental health and medical necessities, to name a few. She has to negotiate the needs and interests of a new population of immigrants and refugees with a group of families who have sent generations of students to Allen and are influential in the community and faith-based organizations. So far, she has navigated negative sentiments regarding undocumented, non-English speaking students and families by focusing attention on the responsibility of the school: to “impact student learning.” She argues that the various programs available at the school ensure that students are ready to learn, and hardships related to food, clothing, and shelter should not be obstacles.
She believes that to maintain internal and external relations that support innovation and excellence in teaching and learning, she has to know Allen Elementary, inside and out, and she has little patience for partners who do not follow through with their promise of support. She also maintains that successful leadership at Allen is spread across the school and school community, and is only as good as how responsive it is to a dynamic environment.
Frank Townsend (Allen Community Council chairperson)
The community council chairperson is a member of the community who has sent all of his children to Allen over the years. His youngest is in middle school now, and his wife is a realtor in the area. He has always been impressed with Cynthia and the way teachers and staff at Allen have so much school pride and energy for innovation at Allen. However, he is also aware of the tensions that are mounting about the changing demographics and the recent publication of the AYP scores. Even his wife has expressed distress on the effects of the AYP press on the interest of potential homebuyers. He is convinced that this is a pressing issue for the community council to discuss. He also had questions about a recent announcement regarding changes in the Title I program at Allen.
Nicole Scott (IB coordinator)
Nicole is attending the community council meeting at Cynthia’s request. She is prepared to share an update on the process that elementary schools in the district are undergoing to become IB elementary schools. At Allen, as in other schools, this has been a primary talking point given the multiple languages spoken by students and families. This year, in fact, Allen is the first elementary school to offer a Spanish language course to all of its students. The prestige of the IB program is often noted to the public as is its emphasis on inquiry.
Mary Ellen Robertson (faith-based partner)
Mary Ellen Robertson has been coordinating food and clothing drives among several of the faith-based organizations connected to Allen Elementary for 3 years. She lives just north of the Allen attendance area and has volunteered at her church since she retired 8 years ago. The Allen community has been a regular site for drives due to its growing population of families in need and its sheer size. When she stepped into the coordinator role, she became acquainted with Jennifer, a school district employee and advocate for the refugee families, and has worked closely with her to get information about specific needs in the Allen community.
Jim Kelly (apartment manager)
The apartment manager, Jim Kelly, attends the community council regularly, typically listening and occasionally providing input on logistical matters related to the summer lunch program, or information about apartment occupancy. This weekend, however, one of the buildings at an apartment complex he manages burned, and the situation has created all kinds of problems. Families are moving into other apartments in a different complex, doubling up with other families. None of the occupants had renters insurance; so, many families have lost possessions they cannot replace without assistance. In the mornings, he has noticed that the city and school bus stops are more crowded.
William Lacey (business person)
William Lacey is a manager within a medium-sized corporation in the metro area. His company has had a community service program for its midmanagement executives through which he has volunteered time at Allen Elementary. He is also involved in various youth training programs through the Chamber of Commerce. He attends the community council meetings regularly. He considers the meeting informative as well as yet another way to volunteer his time to the school. He has provided ideas to the school for business-oriented school and class projects, and over the last 18 months has been pleased with some unexpected networking opportunities made possible because of the community council. On this day, he is a bit preoccupied after leaving a meeting with his supervisors to strategize cost savings and potential layoffs among the production ranks. He is looking forward to a meeting where he can hear about some positive stories about children engaging in interesting and creative activities—a break from the “real world.”
Esperanza Guerra (community organizer)
Esperanza moved to the Allen community 8 years ago when a growing contingent of Latino families appeared to move to the area. She does not attend the community council regularly but wanted to be there for this particular meeting to gain a sense of how the “community leaders” frame recent events. A seasoned organizer and activist, Esperanza knew that the convergence of multiple events—an increasingly challenging economic environment, intensifying school accountability systems, political hostility toward public serving institutions, the perceived failure of public schools as demonstrated through failure to meet AYP measures, increased anti-immigrant sentiment—would likely make for lively discussion and shed light on how her community should respond and move forward.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.