Navigating the politics of education: Leading schools during challenging times

Teachers, principals, and superintendents have been placed in an unfortunate and unexpected political position. Due to increased misinformation on the nature and origin of varying political issues, educators often have to address and confront parents and community members who have likely seen headlines about these brewing “local battles” (Kingkade et al., 2021). Normally, educators would approach these topics thoughtfully with a purpose to help each of their students to realize their potential as effective citizens and fulfilling responsibilities in the community by cooperating with parents to improve the public schools (Texas Administrative Code, 1998). However, these themes have become polarizing and educators are feeling a mounting pressure to make pedagogical decisions to please school leaders and the school community (Walker, 2018; Dunn, Sondel, & Baggett, 2019).