“This is Not Who We Are”: Students Leading for Anti-Racist Policy Changes in Alexandria City Public Schools, Virginia

This paper centers the voices of students who successfully struggled alongside justice-minded school board members and other concerned citizens to create anti-racist policy changes in Alexandria City Public Schools, Virginia. Specifically, we examine the history behind, and political processes involved with, changing the names of two local schools due to the racist political commitments of their namesakes. Lessons learned include the need to carefully structure the policy change process to include students, families, and other community members in critical dialog and amplify the voices of those most impacted by the structural racism that needs to be dismantled: The students.

Backtalk: School boards and superintendents should work in concert

In response to a column by Joshua Starr about how superintendents act as buffers between the school district and the community, Rachel S. White and Mark Lineburg suggest that school board members must also serve a buffering function. They encourage school board members and superintendents to work in concert when making decisions and communicating those decisions to the community. Specifically, they stress the importance of centering students in their decision making and of creating a shared language about the decisions they have made.

De distributie van kaliumjodidetabletten: hoe goed is België voorbereid op een nucleair incident?

The distribution of potassium iodide tablets: is Belgium prepared for a nuclear incident? Potassium iodide tablets are protective in case of a nuclear accident with the release of radioactive iodine. After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, there was an increased incidence of thyroid cancer in the affected areas. Disaster readiness was deficient, and the population was not aware of the possible protective measures. In Belgium, these potassium iodide tablets are freely available in any public pharmacy upon simply showing one’s identity card. We conducted a survey among the general population, pharmacists and school board members, showing that in Belgium too there is a need for more information. In addition, the survey revealed that in Belgium the distribution to the target groups should be improved. If a nuclear disaster occurs, it goes without saying that a proper organization of protective measures is mandatory. Unfortunately, in Belgium, so many years after Chernobyl, the necessary preparations for this have not yet been completed, while there are 5 nuclear sites within its borders. If the full potential of the potassium iodide tablets is to be exploited, a much better overall approach is urgently needed.

Reflections on School Board Evaluation Practices to Support Meaningful Feedback for Superintendent Growth and Improvement

Evaluating the superintendent is the paramount duty of the school board. Current evaluation practices are inconsistent and meaningless for providing effective feedback. The researcher was interested in understanding this issue from the school board’s perspective. Research questions addressed were: (1) What current evaluation practices exist? (2) What further training and support do school board members need? and (3) How does a school board member’s relationship with the superintendent affect their perception of the superintendent evaluation? In this qualitative study, findings confirm inadequate and inconsistent evaluation practices and a desire for ongoing support in evaluation training.

Rural Superintendents’ Responses to COVID-19: Navigating Local Control During a Public Health Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a variety of responses by organizational leaders throughout the United States and internationally. This paper explores the responses of five rural school superintendents who work in a conservative Midwestern state. Using an exploratory qualitative research design, the study analyzes interviews and documents collected remotely to adhere to current public health guidelines. The study adopted a crisis leadership perspective to explore how rural school superintendents were responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and managing the politics associated with it. Findings suggest that superintendents were acutely aware of their community’s current political stance toward the COVID-19 pandemic and were especially responsive to the individual political philosophies of their elected school board members. The superintendents did not uniformly adopt crisis leadership behaviors to respond to the circumstances created by the pandemic. Rather, superintendents responded in ways that managed the political perspectives held by their elected board members and sought to reconcile differences in the board members’ political perspectives that precluded action. As part of this reconciliation, the superintendents leveraged public health information to shape and at times change elected school board members’ perspectives. This information helped the superintendents overcome political perspectives that led some of the most conservative board members to resist widely accepted public health guidance. Implications for the field of educational leadership, research on rural superintendents, and potential revisions to superintendent preparation are discussed.

Model of Activity Development to Promote Students’ Morality in Primary School

The purpose of this research was to propose a model of activity development to promote students’ morality in primary schools under the Office of Primary Education Service Areas. Mixed methods research was used for the research design. The target group were 17 key informants and 24 school administrators whereas 400 school teachers were used for data collection. Content analysis was used for qualitative analysis, and quantitative data were analyzed by using percentage statistics, frequency, mean, and standard deviation. Results showed that students’ morality was developed through 5 aspects consisted of 1) Sufficiency, 2) Gratitude, 3) Integrity, 4) Responsibility, and 5) Moral ideology, and analyzed results were shown at a high level in all aspects. A model of activity development to promote students’ morality in primary schools composed of 1) Curriculum, 2) Learning objectives, 3) Teaching plan preparation, 4) Teaching and learning activities, and 5) Assessment. The developed model focused on 4 important aspects which were 1) Ethic, promote 5 virtues for students, which are sufficiency, gratitude, integrity, accountability, and moral ideology by using the model to develop activities to promote morality of students. 2) Activity Development, it was focused on teaching and learning activities, including curriculum, learning objectives, teaching plans, teaching and learning activities, and assessment. 3) Support, support the development of activities to promote morality of students under cooperation between administrators, teachers, school board members, monks, parents, and communities. 4) Students, students will receive the most from the activity development promote the morality.

Model of Learning Management Applying the Five Precepts for Thai Students

The purposes of this research were 1) to study the state of learning management in the context of Thai schools, and 2) to develop and propose a model of learning management applying the five precepts for Thai Students. Mixed methods research was used for the design. Qualitative data were collected by in-depth interview from 17 key informants, and to confirm results using focus group discussion. Quantitative data were collected by using questionnaires from 390 samples. Content analysis was used for the qualitative data whereas quantitative data was analyzed by descriptive statistics consisted of percentage statistics, frequency, mean, standard deviation. Results indicated that the state of learning management in the context of Thai schools consisted of 1) Learning Management in 4 areas: (1) Basic preparation, (2) Planning and preparation of learning management, (3) using psychology of learning, (4) evaluation and reports. 2) Five Precepts of learning management of the 5 Precepts for Thai students consisting of the 1st Precepts is no slaughtering of animals; the 2nd Precepts is no theft; the 3rd Precepts is prohibited behavior; the 4th Precepts is prohibiting to be posted; the 5th Precepts is prohibition drink alcohol. 3) Schools need to organize learning management applying 5 precepts. There should be participation among administrators, teachers, school board members, monks, parents, students and communities. Therefore, LFS Model was developed composed of 3 important points which were (1) Learning Management, (2) Five Precepts, and (3) School.

Uncontested: electoral competition in American school board elections

PurposeThe purpose of this research was to determine the extent to which American school board members faced electoral competition, as well as the factors influencing the likelihood of competition.Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilized original national survey data of American school board members linked with school district demographic data obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics. Several hypotheses were tested using three state-level fixed-effects logistic regression models predicting electoral competition.FindingsThe authors found that 39.6% of American school board members reported not having an opponent in their most recent election. School board members serving larger urban school districts with higher percentages of special needs students and racial minorities were more likely to have faced electoral competition.Originality/valueThe authors highlighted potential flaws in the traditional model of local democratic governance and helped expand understanding of the dissatisfaction theory of American democracy and continuous participation theory. The authors concluded with several suggestions on how the results can be used to inform future local governance reforms that increase electoral competition and/or create more effective governance models.

Uplifting Leadership to Support Strategic Plan Implementation

This case study examines how uplifting leadership by the superintendent of one rural school district utilized various structures and processes to successfully implement the first year of their district strategic plan. The study is framed around the literature on change theory and the literature on uplifting leadership. Interviews with goal area team leaders, building principals, district leadership, and school board members yielded various leadership characteristics, structures, and processes that resulted in successful implementation of year one of the district's strategic plan. The interdependence of uplifting leadership with supportive structures and processes were examined as pivotal to the district's successful implementation.