{"id":66237,"date":"2022-10-19T00:57:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T04:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/?post_type=bu-article&p=66237"},"modified":"2023-08-12T20:46:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T00:46:22","slug":"hot-button-topics-responsive-leaders","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/magazine\/articles\/2022\/hot-button-topics-responsive-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot-Button Topics, Responsive Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHot-Button Topics, Responsive Leaders<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Jerry M. Whitmore, Jr., offers a tool kit for school leaders to better engage with concerned community members<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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October 19, 2022<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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Jerry M. Whitmore, Jr<\/a>., says many administrators, superintendents, and school board members have been \u201ccaught flat-footed\u201d by questions about their teaching on race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Morgan Anderson (COM\u201823)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fear and anxiety for the majority of administrators and teachers,\u201d says Whitmore, a clinical assistant professor with a focus on higher education administration, referring to viral videos of parents angrily opposing critical race theory in school board meetings. \u201cWhat we see on TV has not happened to them in their schools, but they feel like they\u2019re either hearing the rumblings or they are just nervous about when it will be my turn to be up to bat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help school leadership be more thoughtful, empathetic, and prepared in their engagement with community members around the hot-button issues of the day, Whitmore shares a series of  questions and considerations to guide the discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. UNDERSTAND YOUR COMMUNITY<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Administrators who work to build deep understanding of\u2014and connection with\u2014the communities in which they work, Whitmore says, will be better equipped to identify and respond to concerns when they arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      When school leaders are listening to a variety of voices in the community, questions and concerns will rise to the surface, Whitmore says. The skill of pinpointing the societal issues administrators may encounter before or as they bubble up has not been an emphasis at Wheelock, Whitmore adds, which he aims to help change. \u201cI feel like we have failed when it comes to these conversations of critical race theory, gender, and a whole host of other things,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat we have seen on TV is a manifestation of how we have not prepared school leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. WHAT ARE THE FEARS?<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Below the surface of a parent concern is a specific set of fears, Whitmore says. When concerns arise in the community around installing gender-neutral bathrooms in an elementary school, for instance, the underlying fear is that adults will be using the same bathrooms as children, Whitmore says. \u201cHow do we address these fears and say, \u2018Oh, this is a bathroom for children only\u2014this bathroom for adults?\u2019\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. WHAT ARE THE GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE?<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          \u201cDo people actually know what they\u2019re talking about, or are people going to Twitter, to the ends of social media to find the groups that are spitting out the most fire?\u201d Whitmore posits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          He adds that this is also a moment for administrators to be transparent about gaps in a school\u2019s knowledge or resources\u2014be it the need for a dedicated staff working on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in the school community, holes in the curriculum, or another oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          1. WHO ARE THE EXPERTS?<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            While superintendents speak for school systems and principals speak for individual schools, Whitmore says, hard conversations with community members can benefit from the input of an in-house or outside expert. \u201cThis also gives the perception that these school leaders get what we\u2019re talking about, and we\u2019re actually leaning in to those experts,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1. FOLLOW UP!<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              If school leaders don\u2019t continually follow up with community members regarding concerns and issues that arise, they will continue to deal with \u201cflare-ups\u201d months and years later. Whitmore likens it to a wildfire that is \u201cplastered all over the news\u201d for two or three days, drops out of the news cycle suddenly, only to reemerge as a second fire started from the first blaze\u2019s embers. \u201cIf you don\u2019t address those embers,\u201d he says, \u201cthey will continue to spiral out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Jerry M. Whitmore, Jr., says many administrators, superintendents, and school board members have been \u201ccaught flat-footed\u201d by questions about their teaching on race.  \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fear and anxiety for the majority of administrators and teachers,\u201d says Whitmore, a clinical assistant professor with a focus on higher education administration, referring to viral videos of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9090,"featured_media":62354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[6613],"magazine-article-category":[],"magazine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[6619],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/66237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9090"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66237"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/66237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66429,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/66237\/revisions\/66429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66237"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=66237"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=66237"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=66237"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=66237"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=66237"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=66237"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=66237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}