Superintendent In(Queer)yTowards a New Theory of Leadership

Jocelyn Dumaresq, EdD Doctoral Candidate

Research Questions

✤ This study seeks to explore the experiences of queer superintendents in order to suggest a queer leadership theory of practice.

✤ What are the experiences of queer superintendents?

✤ How has their identity as a queer leader mediated their leadership practices?

✤ What do their experiences suggest for a queer theory of leadership practice?

Theoretical Framework

✤ Queer Theory

✤ Judith Butler - the Heterosexual Matrix

✤ Michel Foucault - language and power

✤ Jonathan Silin - silence

✤ Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick - the closet

Research Design

✤ 15 semi-structured interviews of queer superintendents, assistant superintendents and district-level administrators

✤ Narrative Analysis (Clandinin & Connelly)

✤ A deeper look into 3 interviews

✤ Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin)

✤ A look across all 15 interviews

Key Findings

✤ RQ 1: Experiences

✤ Overt discrimination, attempts to pass as straight, overcompensation, distancing, small support networks

✤ RQ 2: Leadership

✤ Sexuality had an impact on habits of mind, decision-making, policy passing

✤ Sensitivity was a common leadership quality

✤ The theme of regret (role model, broad changes)

Personal Impact

✤ Going through the EdD program and dissertation process has affected me by...

✤ Allowing me to meet and interact with queer role models in positions of power

✤ Reinforcing my role as an advocate for change in my personal and professional life

Professional Impact

✤ Going through the EdD program and dissertation process has made me a better

✤ Leader - using research and theory in practice

✤ Thinker - considering ideas, decisions and actions more critically

✤ Scholar - improving my academic and professional reading and writing

District Impact

✤ A call for

✤ More inclusive HR policies

✤ Partner benefits, equal opportunity job protection

✤ More sensitive and inclusive hiring practices

Wider Impact

✤ A call for

✤ Diversified teacher and leadership preparation

✤ Participants noted a distinct lack of queer issues in programs

✤ A national support network of queer leaders

✤ Participants viewed networking favorably