“Stronger With Each Other”: A Case Study of a Shared Superintendency and Multi-District Partnership in Rural Minnesota

Abstract

This study of a multi-district superintendency in rural Minnesota reveals how schools act as spaces where community boundaries expand as a result of partnership and collaboration. The project, informed by grounded theory, seeks to fill a key gap in understanding the experiences of school staff and community members in multi-district resource sharing. In addition, it provides insight into how the sensemaking of rural community identity is negotiated through the school-community relationship. I used theories of positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Mukund, 2016; Biddle & Azano, 2016), critical theory (Delpit, 1988; Foucault; 1977) and social frontiers (Burt, 1992; Miller, Scanlan, & Phillippo, 2017) as conceptual tools. The notion of boundary-spanning (Tajfel & Turner, 1985; Lamont & Molnár, 2002) was utilized in the analysis of how school staff and community members defined rurality and who was considered an insider or outsider in their communities. This qualitative case study utilizes interviews, observation, and document analysis to provide an in-depth look at how rural community members and school personnel perceive the efforts of their district to share resource and staff positions with a neighboring district. A consideration of history and the significance of place in rural communities provides context for findings that reveal the ways community identity is shaped by shared struggle and survival. When this experience is extended to a neighboring district, community identity expands to include those outside the traditional boundaries of geography. School leaders, including the district superintendent, are key actors in boundary-spanning and the bridging of resources between districts. However, this study also shares how students, families, and community members play equally important roles in increasing the permeability of community boundaries.