Full Description
Learn, reflect, and grow from 40 true stories of caring school leadership during times of crisis
Each crisis brings its own issues and unique traumas, and when they happen, most leaders handle the moment by leaning into triage and logistics. This book suggests focusing on more—specifically, on the people they serve. Are you up to the task?
These 40 real stories, from a wide range of schools and settings during many types of crises, show how caring school leadership adopted caring people-first strategies. This book will help you and your teams be inspired to prepare for, perhaps prevent, respond to, and recover from your own school crises. Within these pages, you will find:
An introduction to what crisis and caring school leadership means
Helpful lists to guide caring leadership practices
A review of current crisis management literature
Questions, reflection, and prompts to engage with story learnings
Prepare now to be the concerned, caring, and constant leader your school will need when crises come as well as making your leadership and school more caring when those same crises subside.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Introduction: Crises and Caring School Leadership
Crisis Comes
The Meaning of Crisis
Crisis Leadership and the Through Line of Caring
Caring School Leadership in Times of Crisis
Guide for Engaging the Stories
Overview of Practices
Questions That Promote Understanding
Questions That Prompt Application
The Stories
1. Through the Eyes of Children
2. Speak Life
3. Giving Ourselves Permission to Be Human
4. Building a Family
5. Reflections on Healing Staff With Compassion
6. Caring for Kids by Taking Care of Teachers
7. Laura
8. Guarding Against Sexual Misconduct
9. One Sows, Another Reaps
10. A Million Times More
11. Commitment to Community Health
12. Da Bears!
13. My Zoom Isn't Working!
14. Imagine the Possibilities
15. On Day 2, 9/11
16. Responding to the Crises
17. A Deadly Threat
18. Start Simple
19. Keeping Connected With the Kids
20. Prioritizing Our Students
21. A District Office Caring for Teachers
22. We Need to Talk About Sarah
23. Coping With Loss
24. Bring Your Dog to Work Days
25. "With Every Difficulty, There Is Relief"
26. Tone Deafness
27. Centering on Community
28. Biting
29. The Magnolia
30. No One Saw It Coming
31. No Hugs, No Bugs
32. Two Storms in One Week
33. And Then There Was Mold
34. I Am Here for You
35. Winning and Losing
36. Summer Meals
37. Sharing the Peace
38. The Tsunami
39. Leading Through the Storm
40. The Work of My Life
Coda
A Culture of Caring
Who Cares for the Caring School Leader?
Bibliography
