Everyday Decision-Making during a Pandemic: How Local Schools Attend to the Health and Well-Being of Students

We investigate the everyday governance and decision-making practices of educators to care for the health and well-being of pre-K-12 students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through multi-sited, multi-scaled, mixed-methods, community-engaged research at two schools in the San Gabriel Valley region of Southern California, we examine how teaching models for physical and mental well-being are being adapted to online and distance learning environments. Beginning from the initial announcements of school closures to the ongoing contingency planning for the 2020-21 school year, this study will produce: (1) original qualitative datasets regarding hitherto marginalized educational areas and pedagogical practices, (2) analytic frameworks to assess how everyday decision-making practices change within differential school infrastructures and forms of governance, and (3) analysis of emergent adaptive practices in education systems during this extraordinary time and under ongoing community stressors.