NOT UNHAPPY BUT UNSETTLED: How New Leadership Engages With Existing Community in K-12-Unit Schools

Abstract

K-12-unit school structures are unique in grade band structure and in community involvement. Often found in rural settings, K-12-unit schools are steeped in tradition and community. They are typically smaller schools with under 1500 students enrolled. K-unit-schools exhibit characteristics of an open system wherein they are impacted by both those individuals directly involved in the school such as teachers, students and administrators and those community members and parents who surround the school. As an open system, this dissertation seeks to understand how one K-12-unit school adjusted through the change of administration when an administrator from an outside, large metropolitan area moved into the area as Principal. This qualitative analysis looks at one K-12-unit school that has recently undergone administration change. As part of the study, the new administrator, assistant principal, six teachers and staff, and a community focus group were interviewed and social media, school improvement plans, and state teacher surveys were analyzed to answer the following research questions: Question 1 - How does a new administrator assimilate within the existing school culture initially accepted by teachers and community members in a K-12-unit school?; Question 2 - How does the culture and/or community also have to adjust during the assimilation of a new leader? This dissertation examines how the administrator assimilated in the school and community and how the school and community adjusted for the new administrator. This dissertation seeks to understand elements of school culture, leadership, and change and how these things work together in the K-12-unit school environment.