Graduation Year
2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning
Major Professor
William Black, Ph.D.
Co-Major Professor
Zorka Karanxha, Ed.D.
Committee Member
Brenda Walker, Ph.D., J.D.
Committee Member
Michael Sherry, Ph.D.
Keywords
Black women leaders, charter school leadership, collaborative narrative, crisis leadership, school discipline, re-storying
Abstract
The racial discipline gap and the school-to-prison persist despite contemporary discourse, legislation and trending best practices implemented to reduce exclusionary discipline and its related consequences. However, school leaders are often faced with critical school discipline events, that based on predetermined consequences, end with students being excluded from school. For my study, critical incidents needed not be major incidents, but they hold some level of significance in the lives of those involved. This study examined how Black women assistant principals experienced critical school discipline incidents while they worked in Title I charters schools in Florida. Narratives were captured during individual interviews and a focus group interview with 3 co-participants. The findings suggest that Black women APs prioritize developing meaningful relationships with students and team members by being accessible, taking time to listen and show care for students, while also wrestling with leadership paradigms that mimic gender and racial stereotypes that constant question their capacity to lead. This unchoreographed dance blurs the ethical dilemmas often resulting in leadership approaches that reinforce the normalized, inequitable, and oppressive idea of accountability. The findings tell me that the critical incidents experienced in Title I charter schools are complex with intersecting social, cultural, and political ramifications that calls for a reconceptualization of what accountability looks like when serving students already pre-disposed to marginalization.
Scholar Commons Citation
Henry-Lewis, Marsha T., "Navigating Critical Incidents as Black Women Assistant Principals in Title I Charter Schools: A Narrative Inquiry" (2024). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/11182
