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Abstract

Safety and security are of the utmost importance for public school districts. The COVID-19 pandemic made school district crisis management and communication personally relevant to families with school-aged children. The purpose of this study was to learn how school administrators described their communication with families during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative case study explored building-level and district-level school administrators’ experiences and perspectives communicating with elementary families at one Pennsylvania public school district from March 2020 through May 2022. Interviews were conducted with participants to gather rich, deep data and document review provided additional context and insights. Inductive analysis of interview data revealed two main themes: school administrators described being responsive and supporting trusting relationships with families. Specifically, participants felt they were responsive to the ongoing pandemic situation and to their school community’s needs. Additionally, participants believed they supported trusting relationships with families by keeping kids at the core, communicating support, and navigating community division. This study’s findings have implications mainly for school leaders but also for other key school stakeholders, policy makers, and institutions of higher education. Study findings provide considerations for practitioners including prioritizing relationships; communicating with families to support trusting school-family partnerships; considering the communication platform; being reflective and responsive; collaborating with other school leaders; and using, reviewing, and updating school crisis response plans. This study adds to the limited amount of research on crisis management and communication in the public school context. More research is needed on crisis management and communication in the public school context to gather the perspectives, experiences, and needs of administrators, students, families, and teachers.

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