Documenting disappearing spaces: Erasure and remembrance in two high school closures.

Abstract

As school closures are on the rise across the nation, it becomes important to study these disappearing spaces. We frame the recent rash of school closings and their impact on communities through the concept of erasure, which we see as the uprooting of a particular space to make room for innovation. In this article, we consider such examples of erasure, ghosts of institutional memory, and remembrance in disappearing or reconstituted sites: specifically, 2 high schools. We discuss commonalities and differences in the ways in which these concepts manifest across these 2 sites, the first taking place in the Northeast in the mid-1990s as reflective of community-led activism and teacher union collaboration and the second in the Midwest 10 years into federal and state school accountability reform efforts, where school closure is one of several interventions for schools struggling academically. Both sites were informed by methods that have participatory elements, an action orientation, and a deeply critical and historical lens. Influenced by Apfelbaum's (2000) discussion of the obligation of remembrance and Fullilove's (2004) reflection on "root shock" in urban renewal processes, we understand erasure as a deeply psychological response to failure and conflict. We conclude by reexamining the notion of productive conflict as a necessary element in educational change.

Community-engaged research through the lens of school closures: Opportunities, challenges, contributions, and lingering questions

“…There have been many collaborative efforts across the country to chronicle and contest the harmful effects of school closings on students, teachers, parents, and communities (Ayala & Galletta, 2012;Cekander et al, 2014;Kirshner, Gaertner, & Pozzoboni, 2010;Lipman & Person, 2007). These efforts have varied in scope, in methodology, and in the composition of the research teams.…”

“…Community-engaged scholarship on school closure, including the three projects discussed in this article, as well as work by Lipman and colleagues (Lipman & Person, 2007), Kirshner and colleagues (Kirshner & Pozzoboni, 2011) and Galetta and colleagues (Ayala & Galletta, 2012;jones, Stewart, Ayala & Galletta, 2015), draws attention to the ways in which key stakeholders experience and interpret school closure. These studies accomplish several ends.…”

Closure and the roles of student performance and enrollment characteristics: A survival analysis of charter schools in Ohio’s largest urban counties

“…Supporters claim that by closing TCS that are unable to meet their contractual obligations, students will leave unproductive school environments for higher performing schools, which will ultimately improve their academic achievement. Opponents of closures are concerned that closures will interrupt students' educational experiences, cause psychological stress and harm their academic outcomes (Ayala & Galletta, 2012;CREDO, 2017b).…”

“…In an ethnographic study of a Midwestern high school primarily serving African American students, Ayala and Galletta (2012) documented the ways in which school closings are often disconnected from the community since they result from the local and state level in relation to federal school accountability policies. While restructuring and turnaround initiatives are framed as solutions for poor, dysfunctional, low-performing schools, Ayala and Galletta (2012) argue that these initiatives neither acknowledge the strengths inherent in local communities, nor do they represent the desire of the community. Frequently, district decisions to employ school closure as a solution has produced community opposition.…”

“It just doesn’t add up”: Disrupting official arguments for urban school closures with counterframes

“…When faced with these arguments for closures, how do affected communities respond? Often, research points to the power communities wield in telling counter stories or narratives that cut through discussions of utilization rates or educational failure to focus on themes like identity and community (Fine, 2012;Galletta & Ayala, 2012;Kirshner & Pozzoboni, 2011). However, after previously resisting school closures myself as a teacher and now studying these processes as a researcher, I have observed another important strategy employed by communities.…”