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Case Study #2:

Pollock, K., Lopez, A., & Joshee, R. (2013). Disrupting myths of poverty in the face of resistance.
Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 16(2), 11-19.

Marcus is a principal with a reputation for taking underperforming schools in poor regions of
Toronto and turning them into inviting centers for community learning. This year, Marcus has
been transferred to Majestic Elementary School located in another of Toronto’s low-income
neighborhoods. The community is a rich blend of ethnically, racially, linguistically, and religious
immigrant families. The dominant racial groups are African Canadians (mainly from the
Caribbean and Somalia), Filipinos, South Asians mainly from Pakistan and India, and some
Portuguese. There are many religions represented in the community (Christian, Muslim, Tagalog,
Hindu, and Sikh). Well over 50 different languages are spoken in Majestic Elementary School.
Although the majority of students are born in Canada, many present as ESL (English as a Second
Language) students because at home, they primarily speak in their first language as their parents
often lack the skills necessary to support the development of their children’s English literacy
skills. Sixty percent of the parents have not graduated from high school. The average income in
the community is Can$17,000 per year. The community center and the school are important
places in the community. The community center provides information for newcomers to the
neighborhood, and many services that the families access such as job postings and child care
services. It is also a place where many conversations take place about things that are happening
in the community. The parents see the school as important, particularly for “socializing” their
children into Canadian Society and learning English. Parents participate in events at the school
and the community to the best of their ability. In fact, a group of parents prior to Marcus’s arrival
had approached the school about ways that they might be more involved in the life of the school,
such as lunch, classroom, and library volunteers, and had offered to start a “culture club” in
which the teachers could learn more about the rich histories and cultures of the students. The
parents were never taken up on their offers by the previous administration. A few teachers came
forward, but with lack of support from the main office, nothing happened. The lack of
communication between the school and the parents was expressed by the same members of the
community at the last meeting at the community center.

During Marcus’s interview for the position, he was informed that the school was not seen as a
desirable place to teach, and teachers working at the school could be seen feverishly scanning the
transfer forms each year to find work in another school as a way out. There were only three
teachers who had been at the school for 5 years or more; of the three, one had been at the school
for 15 years. Most of the teachers had been at the school for 3 years or less. As he prepared for
his first staff meeting, he thought about the visits he had made to the neighborhood during the
summer to get a firsthand look at the community. Walking through the school, he took note of
any signs of community activities. He wanted to get some kind of understanding about his
students and community. He knew from previous experience that he needed to understand the
local community to support the teaching staff.

As the teachers came in for the first staff meeting, they all looked expectantly at Marcus. He
welcomed them back and said a few things about working together to build a strong and
supportive community in the school. He told the teachers he wanted to hear their ideas about
their professional learning community. The teachers were not verbally responsive, but

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exchanged telling glances from time to time. The silence was palpable. As the teachers did not
respond, Marcus continued,

We need to do an equity audit. We need to look at all of our practices from top to
bottom in the school, particularly around the economic and social issues affecting
our students. We need to identify practices that support our students and
community and look for practices that we think are not supportive. The School
Improvement Team made up of the vice principal, teachers, and myself will do this.
We’ll look at our relationship with parents and students, and how the office
functions in dealing with the community as a whole. We will also look at the way
that we do school improvement planning, the way that we deal with issues of
difference, the way that we deal with communication between the school and home,
and how the School Council functions. Everything we look at will be considered
from an equity and inclusion perspective.

At this point, Jack, the teacher who had been at the school for 15 years, spoke up,

Ah, Marcus, there are just a few problems with your plan. First, the parents aren’t
interested in schooling. We don’t really have a school council and the reason we
don’t is that the parents aren’t interested in coming to the meetings. So I guess the
next problem is that we don’t really have a lot of dealings with parents. And I don’t
know about anyone else but I really don’t have the time or energy to do much more
than teach my class. I do not have time to chase disinterested parents.

Marcus replied,

I appreciate your input, Jack, and I think this is a good place to start in terms of
thinking about our audit plan, but keep in mind that because parents are from a low-
income community, it does not mean they are disinterested in their child’s
education. As a school community, it is our responsibility to change the way we
operate and make it more inviting for parents and students. Maybe we need to
think about how we can create a structure that would work for the parents in our
community. As we discuss how we can get the parents involved at Majestic
Elementary School we should consider ways that we can be flexible as many parents
have multiple jobs, work evenings, and take public transportation, which makes it
difficult for them to attend parents’ night as it is presently structured. As much as
we are inclined to buy into stereotypes about low-income and poor families, the
research [Calabrese Barton, Drake, Gustavo Perez, St. Louis, & George, 2004;
Lawson, 2003] points to the fact that they have positive attitudes about the
education of their children and are no less interested than parents who are from
wealthy families. I am hoping we can work collaboratively to remove some of the
barriers to their involvement.

Now it was Cora’s turn to speak. Before coming to the school 3 years ago, Cora was a special
education resource teacher (SERT) for 5 years at another school within the same board. “Marcus,
I think you’re not really getting Jack’s message.” “What do you mean, Cora?”

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Look, Marcus, we all know you came from another school in a low-income
neighborhood and you think that this school is similar to your previous school but
face it—this place is different. I didn’t believe it either when I first got here but you
will figure it out after the fifth note you send home asking parents to come to
parent–teacher meetings. They’re just not that into us.

“No, look, I just meant to say we need to think about what we have done in the past and think
about what worked and what didn’t work and think about the kind of school we want.” Finally,
Joan who has been at the school for 7 years and who was the school union steward spoke,

I thought our job was to teach the curriculum and make sure our kids do well on the
tests. After all, that seems to be the only thing the Board really cares about. I mean
last year, the team they sent here to help us with our instructional planning was
here because we didn’t do so well on the provincial tests. And it does make sense,
after all, because we are in the business of education. I mean we’re not social
workers.

Marcus responded,

Right, Joan, we need to be concerned about what our students are learning. But
there’s lots of research [Fielding, 2006; McMahon & Portelli, 2004; Yazzie-Mintz,
2007] available to show that kids do better in school when they are engaged, when
they feel they are valued and we need to show students at Majestic Elementary we
value them and their families.

“I think Jack’s right,” Vera, the English teacher, chimed in. “We’ve already got so much to do. I
don’t think I’ve got time for all this extra stuff.” Marcus replied,

I appreciate all of your concerns and I am listening. I want you to know that my intention is not
to “add” anything to your work but rather to reflect on what it is that you do and perhaps do it in
a different way. For now I’d just like to invite anyone who wants to be part of the School
Improvement Team to get in touch with either me or Elaine, the vice principal. Five weeks after
the start of school, Marcus and Elaine, the vice principal, met to talk about the School
Improvement Team. Only one teacher had volunteered to participate, and they were already
facing a major issue. A number of the children in the Grade 4 class had labeled one of the boys
“gay” because he was wearing “girl’s shoes.” It turned out that the family did not have much
money and the boy was indeed wearing hand-me-downs from his sister. Vera, the Grade 4
teacher, decided to handle the situation as a case of bullying, but never addressed the
homophobic and classist comments.

At that week’s staff meeting, Marcus decided to use this as a learning opportunity. He opened the
discussion by asking the question, “What else might we have done as a school community to
address the underlying issues?”

Conversation turned to the fact that the student came from a poor family, and the teachers
assumed that the parents did not care what kind of clothes the student wore and that it was
inappropriate to send their son to school in girl’s shoes; the parents were setting their son up to

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be bullied. Marcus tried very hard to point the conversation in other directions, but the
comments were generally about the need to educate poor families about Canadian values such as
working hard, not being lazy, and getting a job so that their children can wear “appropriate”
clothing. One of the teachers suggested that Marcus should contact local social services to tell
them about what had happened at the school and ask them to intervene with the family or at
least inform the family that they could receive clothing from the Good Will or Salvation Army.

Marcus was becoming more and more concerned. How was he going to address issues of
poverty, equity, and inclusion in this school where the teachers seemed to be oblivious to the
issues and harbored unexamined biases and prejudices? Part of Marcus’s success in his previous
school could be attributed to having at least a handful of teachers who were open to changing
how the school operated and were willing to explore different kinds of inclusive practices. Now
to top it off, he had just received the memo from the Board informing all principals that they
needed to be implementing the provincial equity policy and that the superintendent responsible
for equity would be in touch with the school soon to discuss the school plans. Marcus was
committed to doing equity work, but how was he going to make this happen in the environment
he had inherited? And how was he going to raise the teachers’ level of consciousness around
equity and inclusion?

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