Ethics of Dignity and Radical Care: Educational Leaders Navigating Tensions to Support Immigrant School Communities

This case examines how a school district leader in the U.S. Midwest navigates the tensions in supporting immigrant communities’ dignity through radical care while adhering to federal and local policies and practices. It narrates how a superintendent aims to collaborate with a high school team of teachers and administrators to help immigrant and newcomer adolescents graduate, but this work is affected by drastic anti-immigrant policies, discourses, and regulations. This case explores a dignity leadership and radical care framework and what this can look like in praxis, providing resources to school leaders on how to prioritize immigrants’ dignity amid walls of resistance.