Engaging frustrated parents: Utilizing stakeholder teams to collectively deconstruct controversial issues in K-12

ABSTRACT Arguably, K-12 schools are caught in the crossfire of a political divide in this country. This division is evidenced through examples of parent frustration toward school leaders’ attempts (or lack thereof) to address important topics like racism in schools. Although the democratic ideal promotes student exposure to differing viewpoints in order to become well-informed adults, school leaders are becoming more hesitant to broach controversial topics in schools. We believe this is more about parent perspectives being valued and less about a blatant resistance of childrens’ exposure to opposing viewpoints. To that end, we propose a crisis management model, framed through a social-emotional learning (SEL) lens, for school leaders to engage parents in collectively deconstructing controversial issues. First, we establishe how crisis management, through a SEL lens, can be used to address controversial issues in schools. Second, we apply this rationale to deconstructing racism in K-12. Through the use of stakeholder teams, we believe parents with differing viewpoints can be heard, find common ground, and learn to see the value of students’ exposure to controversial issues.