Caring in Crisis
Stories to Inspire and Guide School Leaders
- Mark A. Smylie - University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
- Joseph F. Murphy - Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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.
Free resources
The Tsunami
This story of a Tsunami of difficult circumstances: "How did we make it through? In the end, we managed to come together around a vision rooted in a commitment to social justice and to being a caring and supportive community for all our students, teachers, and families."
What Cares for the Caring School Leader?
"To serve others well . . . all who give care need to regularly replen-ish the water they pour. Without replenishment, they will run dry and be of little use to anyone."
Preface: Caring in Crisis
"In the many years that we have worked in educational leadership and school improvement, we have come to believe that caring lies at the heart of schooling and promoting the learning and development of children."
Sample Materials & Chapters
Chapter 1: Introduction: Crises and Caring School Leadership
Chapter 2: Guide for Engaging the Stories