In the face of the unpredictable nature of crises, it is expected that school principals exhibit behaviors aimed at maintaining the psychological well-being of teachers, students, and parents along with the educational processes. The sudden occurrence of the February 6, 2023 earthquakes, has presented an important crisis situation in which school…

Natural disasters can negatively impact students' educational outcomes and well-being. After a natural disaster, families and communities often rely on schools to foster stability and serve as a conduit to resources. Yet, school principals face many challenges, often with little guidance, in how to best respond to natural disasters. This case…

This study investigated principal leadership as a moderator of teacher turnover following natural hazard exposure. Like other disruptions to schooling, such as pandemics, natural hazard exposure is associated with a variety of negative outcomes in schools, including increased stress for teachers and lowered achievement for students. Using…

Many organizations experience crises at some point in their existence. Some are slow-moving and allow organizational leaders to anticipate and prepare for them, while others are more sudden, such as natural disasters or tragedies, and threaten the organization's people, property, results, and reputation. Leading change during such crises requires…

As principals navigate numerous priorities to lead their school, crises continue to seize principals' attention. We collected and analyzed qualitative data to comprehend how principals responded to the influx of Puerto Rican students into New York City public schools post-Hurricane Maria. We attend to how these principals' leadership activities…

Principals encounter numerous crises, such as migration influxes. Relevant literature explains principals respond to these crises in a variety of ways. However, there is a dearth in the literature that examines what influences principals' responses through a crisis. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative case study broadly asks, how, if…

Over the past twenty years, shootings and other violent incidents, acts of terrorism such as the attacks of September 11, 2001, and natural disaster events such as hurricanes or floods have occurred with increasing frequency. Situations like these pose significant challenges for school administrators when a normally-peaceful educational…

This article stems from a 2016 research project that examined the leadership experiences of 20 primary principals in greater Christchurch. The study was based on the belief that the nature of successful leadership needs to change in a post-disaster setting. The article focuses on what principals learned about leadership from these experiences,…

On 22 February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed 185 people in Christchurch, New Zealand. On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck eastern Japan, and was followed by a devastating tsunami and a nuclear plant crisis. As of 16 November 2011, the official death toll in Japan had reached 15,839, with a further 3467 people still…

This article takes the form of a research report which examines personal resiliency and a sense of hope among educational leaders in times of extreme crises. Findings indicated that, despite the trauma of an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, school leaders were still able to find satisfying aspects in their jobs, and to display a range of…

April 27, 2011, will be remembered by many as a catastrophic day and event in Alabama, and specifically by K-12 educational leaders. Natural disasters like tornadoes have a significant impact on leaders, on their decision making and, obviously, on the survival of many of their victims. The possibility and threat of a major crisis caused by natural…

Hurricane Katrina blew across the St. Bernard Parish Public Schools district in Chalmette, Louisiana, on the morning of Aug. 29, 2005, bringing with it a wall of water that flooded everything for miles, putting the school system's 18 buildings under several feet of water filled with mud, gasoline, oil, dead fish, and other debris. Eleven weeks…

School leadership is synonymous with challenge. However, some school leaders face true crises--situations threatening the continuing existence of their school. "Leading Schools During Crisis" analyzes leadership and behaviors of principals in these extraordinary circumstances. A simultaneously scholarly and practice-oriented book,…

Purpose: The main aim of this paper is to explore the elementary school principals' experiences and reactions toward two earthquakes, which hit the north-west region of Turkey on August 17 and November 12, 1999. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative methodology was used since the goal of the researcher was to delineate the experiences and…

The way in which a school community deals with a crisis situation is a test of its sense of community. This guidebook, intended for Catholic-school principals, presents a detailed plan to help schools establish crisis-management teams and offers directions for their operation. Chapter 1 presents an overview of crisis management and focuses on how…