Leading in the Midst of it All

Surviving and Thriving Through COVID-19 and Racial Reckonings

Sheree N. Alexander|Aaron J. Griffen|C. Dedra Williams|Karen Griffen

Emerald

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9781805923480

11 December 2025

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9781805923466

11 December 2025

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9781805923459

11 December 2025

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Description
Contents
About

Leading in the Midst of it All: Surviving and Thriving Through COVID-19 and Racial Reckonings centers educators of color—both P-12 and Higher Education—during national pandemics and political, civil, and racial unrest.

This volume offers firsthand experiences of recognizing and addressing inequities and their impact on communities. It shares how educators of color led amidst competing pandemics while serving their schools, communities, and families. The authors provide practical insights for P-12 educators and Higher Educators on addressing disparities in remote instruction, hiring, retention, and development, while creating inclusive and engaging virtual and hybrid schooling experiences.

Leading in the Midst of it All highlights the necessity for human resource personnel, school leadership programs, superintendents, college presidents, provosts, and boards to value the lived experiences of educators of color and provide intentional support.

The book is divided into four sections.

Section I focuses on the experiences of teachers of color, detailing the impacts of COVID-19 on marginalized communities.
Section II centers on school leadership, particularly leaders of color, as they navigate their roles amidst social inequities.
Section III engages the narratives of central office personnel of color, emphasizing the value of revolutionary voices to disrupt inequitable ideologies.
Section IV provides details on policy, practice, and partnership transformation methods that empower sustainability for practitioners and researchers.

The chapters in this book capture the daily challenges of leading amidst pandemics, fear, unrest, and uncertainty.

Introduction; Sheree N. Alexander

Section 1. Teachers Leading in the Midst of It All; C. Dedra Williams
Chapter 1. Leading amid Covid-19 in Education; Diane McGlashan Wilburn
Chapter 2. Supporting Latino Students and Their Families Through the Impacts of COVID-19; Rhaymen Altagracia-Yunes
Chapter 3. The Call for Humanity; David Alston
Chapter 4. Hurricane Rona: Leading in the Midst of Dueling Pandemics; Euna Ji
Section 2. School Leaders Leading in the Midst of It All; Karen “Dr. K.” Griffen
Chapter 5. Leading With Full Community Engagement: Facing and Overcoming Multiple Pandemics Together; Michael E. Coleman, Jr and Tiffany D. Pogue
Chapter 6. Leading While Black in Public Schools; Kevin L. Jones
Chapter 7. Physically Distant but Socially Connected; Crystal Waterman and Christina Wright Fields
Chapter 8. Leading In Troubled Times; Reuben Sampson Jr.
Chapter 9. Culturally Responsive Leadership for Twice/Tw(y)ce Exceptional Students in the Midst of Dual Pandemics; Velicia Hawkins-Moore
Chapter 10. Race and Reality in Education; Donovan Griffin-Blake
Section 3. Introduction: The Great Underbelly; Aaron J. Griffen
Chapter 11. Hidden Figures; Trista Kuyenkendall
Chapter 12. Leading Through a Pandemic, Pandemonia, and among the School of Piranha; Benjamin Edmondson
Chapter 13. Whatever You Do, Just Keep Moving; Carmen R. Darville
Section 4. Higher Education Leading the Midst of It All; Sheree N. Alexander
Chapter 14. Willful Ignorance and The Precedent of Unprecedented; Richard D. Williams
Chapter 15. Crushing the Boxes You Thought Would Cage Us: Five Outliers on COVID, Zoom, and Speaking Out Against Social and Racial Injustices; Robin Brandehoff, Jessica A. Luna, Valerie Richmond, Gabriel Castaño, and Melinda Rossi
Chapter 16. The Need for a Radical, Liberatory Hope in Higher Education; Tiffany D. Pogue and Michael E. Coleman, Jr.
Chapter 17. Hard Pivot to E-Mentoring; Gregory A. Downing
Chapter 18. Am I welcome here? Coping Strategies of International Students and Scholars; Hsiao-ping Wu
Conclusion: Leading in the Midst of It All; Aaron J. Griffen

Sheree N. Alexander, Ed.D. is a P-12 Practitioner-Scholar with over 30 years of classroom and administrative experience, and currently teaches Social Thought in Africana Studies at Rowan University.

Aaron J. Griffen, Ph.D. is a P-12 Practitioner-Scholar with over 21 years of experience in public and charter as a middle school English teacher, assistant principal, as a high school principal, and currently as the Vice President of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at DSST Public Schools in Denver, Colorado.

C. Dedra Williams has over three decades of experience as an educator and has always had a unique perspective on the value of global knowledge and good education.

Karen “Dr. K.” Griffen has served a diverse population of learners and adults in both Urban and Suburban settings throughout her 20+ years as an educator.