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Living in the countryside can be complex and is often a matter of daily movements in order to make all activities fit into one’s life. The structure of everyday life is also about the interplay between political decisions and physical structures. This thesis shows the consequences of change to the rural landscape for daily life. In this case, the change was brought about by the closure of two rural schools in Ydre, Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the meaning of rural schools in the development of local society and identity, and how such meaning is based on people’s time-spatial everyday stories. The study focuses on how households interpret change and the problems that arise from the closure of rural schools. Studying this is accomplished through interviews with twelve households with schoolchildren of varying ages and is based on a time-geographical perspec-tive. In the spring of 2009, qualitative interviews were carried out concerning rural life and the possible effect of closure-threatened schools on their daily lives. In the autumn of 2009, the schools were closed, and the same families were visited and the household studies fol-lowed up with further interviews. Thus, the study investigates local circumstances, how householders adapt to structural changes, how this creates patterns in their everyday lives and activities, and how schools and private life are connected.  One conclusion here is that the householders are concerned about their local community. They highlight the importance of the rural school, which they consider exclusive and not just a resource for the children but the community as a whole. Thereby, they highlight their hope that their area is seen as attractive by visitors; by people looking for somewhere to settle down; and also by themselves, the inhabitants. A school is not just a place for teaching; it is also an important place where parents can meet; it is a part of social life; and it is a place where social networks are created and decisions about everyday life are made. Through stud-ies of the school closures and people’s everyday experiences, some of the complexities of countryside life and problems appear in a more human-centred and everyday perspective.

<p>Despite the fact that natural disasters have always existed, the number and intensity of natural disasters have increased. Progress has been made in preparing for natural disasters, but the consequences are still severe. This study takes on the task of identifying the features that make schools more vulnerable to natural disasters. Using a simple OLS (N=387). The study analyses the effect of natural disasters on school closures. Using six different disasters as our study area, we capture different demographic and socioeconomic features of a school impacted by natural disaster at different geographic levels: the individual school, the school district, and the Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA). The regression results show that factors such as increased disaster severity, higher levels of poverty, and larger numbers of at-risk individuals within a puma have significant positive associations with an increase in the number of days a school closes. At a practical level, understanding the impact of a disaster on school closure can depend on multiple factors and is important for local, state and federal governments. Policies must be implemented by local communities throughout the nation to increase community resilience. By understanding vulnerability factors adequately, their impact on school closure can be mitigated by increasing appropriate preparedness, efficient recovery strategies, evacuation strategies, and interpersonal awareness. Climate change and its effects, present and future, is a major concern for the whole world. Our efforts to understand and seek solutions to prevent and limit the damages rendered by natural disasters are critical to an effort to reduce the impacts of climate change in the U.S. and other affected countries. </p>

The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruption to students worldwide, especially younger ones. This instrumental case study investigated how elementary students in a rural United States southeastern community experienced the sudden, extended closure of their school building facilities triggered by this health emergency. Multiple stakeholder perspectives were gathered through semi-structured interviews with the elementary school principal, three classroom teachers, three elementary-aged students, and three student family members, along with classroom observations as well as corresponding documents and artifacts. Interview commentaries and weekly reflective commentary journal entries were employed to address data validation and reliability issues. The findings demonstrate how the rural elementary school community leveraged its unique strengths (e.g., partnership with families, communal leaders, businesses, and local institutions) and overcame disadvantages under emergency conditions. Salutary lessons drawn from the COVID-19 extended school facilities closure were shared from the perspectives of the rural school stakeholders.

The purpose of the study was to document and examine the experiences and perspectives of students and staff who were affected by the closure of Mount Rogers Combined School in 2010. Mount Rogers Combined School was established in Grayson County, Virginia, by the concerted efforts of volunteers and community members who valued education and considered schooling a top priority for the area. The original four-room school was built of rocks and housed grades 1 through 11, taught by four teachers, one of whom also served as the principal (Grayson County School Board [GCSB], 1993). In 1990, it was the smallest school in the Commonwealth of Virginia (United States Department of Agriculture, 1990). A review of early education in Virginia and early education in Grayson County is documented to place the study in historical context. A brief history of Grayson County is also included in this paper. The qualitative case study documents the experiences and perspectives of the students and staff who went through the school's closure. Both primary and secondary sources were used to complete the study including interviews of students and staff who worked at or attended the school, reviews of official records and documents found in archives, examination of personal manuscripts, inspection of artifacts, and study of general histories. School divisions close and consolidate schools to improve instructional programs for students, offset student enrollment declines, provide adequate facilities for learning, and for economic savings. Communication, developing relationships, transportation, extracurricular activities and course offerings are variables that should be considered when planning a school closure. While transportation and changes in relationships are particular challenges, the overall benefits for former staff members include better access to more resources and professional development opportunities. Former students tend to adapt better than staff members when schools close due to more course offerings and access to a broader range of extracurricular activities. The findings are aligned with the literature that was reviewed for the study. / Ed. D.

Many rural village schools have closed over the years, both in Sweden and internationally, because of urbanisation, centralisation and the quest for efficiency. This study shows the impact of two school closures in the rural area of Ydre, south-east Sweden, and describes the reactions of children and families concerned. The aim is to analyse what rural village schools mean for everyday life and how such meaning is based on time-spatial everyday stories. How the children and families view the school closures emerges in the time-geographic perspective, on their own terms, given their opportunity to demonstrate how they use different time-space components. This was studied by interviewing and sketching mental maps with 28 pupils of various ages, and by interviewing and drawing up weekly time schedules with 12 families. This also enabled the analyses to be extended, using the time-geographic conceptual framework, and in particular the interplay between structural changes and individuals’ day-to-day lives, and the interconnections between school and private life, to be clarified. One conclusion is that a school is no mere teaching venue. It is also a key meeting place for children, part of community life and a space for social networking and daily decision-making: a local community hub for the children and their parents alike. When a local school closes and the pupils need to travel further for schooling elsewhere, it affects their travel and activity patterns and social networks. Children’s drawings express their perceptions of place, time and distance. This study shows that the locations where children spend time and have their social networks, as well as how and how often they travel on particular routes, are crucial for their assessment of distance, both temporal and spatial. Describing the value of the closure-threatened school, parents express concern about their local village. They stress the importance of the village school, which they regard as excellent, unique and a resource for the family, but also for the community as a whole. Thereby, they highlight their hope that their community will be attractive to visitors, and also to themselves, the residents. The threats of closure upset them and provoke discussions on how to sustain a living countryside. Studies of children’s and families’ experience of school closures pinpoint the complexity of rural life and show it in a more human-centred, everyday light. Since children are absent from the municipal closure procedure, views of children’s participation are also discussed.

Abstract Educational leaders must operate in a complex political world that places a premium on skills and strategies involving consensus building, negotiations, and reciprocity. This dissertation is about the leadership struggles and tensions inherent in a school consolidation process. The principals highlighted in this study represent the leader of a metropolitan school which is closed and consolidated with another school in the same school district. The school district employs a defined and planned process to address many issues inherent in a school consolidation like guaranteed placement of displaced teachers in schools of their choice. I examined the experiences of three principals during the course of the school consolidation to determine if there are any advantages in using a pre-planned consolidation to ensure the success of the consolidation process. My experiences as a principal involved in a school consolidation experience without a defined and pre-negotiated consolidation protocols was used to draw contrasts when interview data was analyzed from the three school principals. To guide my data collection and analysis I used a conceptual framework based on the work of Mead (1934), Husserl (1965), Blumer (1969), Stryker (2002) and Merleau-Ponty (2004), Interpretivism with a case study paradigm based on the work of Hancock and Algozzine (2006), Creswell (2003), Yin (2003) and Miles and Huberman (1994) to guide my study which was aimed at understanding the experiences of school principals during a school consolidation. The initial findings of my study indicated that the experiences for most stakeholders impacted by a consolidation were consistent with those found in the literature concerning other consolidation experiences. There was some minimal reduction in the perceived levels of uncertainty and anxiety of staff members concerning their employment status. The principals had certain assignments related to the logistical planning and management of resource security and allocation removed from their agenda, but leadership experiences remained fraught with uncertainty and a sense of trial and error in navigating through the processes required for a successful consolidation experience. This study provided several insights that may be useful to school principals in managing and seeking appropriate assistance from district level leadership to improve the probability that the level of success in a school consolidation may affect various stakeholder groups impacted by the experience. The findings discuss several implications regarding how school principals and school districts may consider the overall impact of a school consolidation on their students and their stance regarding equity and social justice for all the school's communities. Finally, this study provides several recommendations for policy and educational practice.

Doctor of Education / This case study looks at the impact of closing an urban secondary school. It considers the experiences of the students, the staff and the parents. It does not argue with the decision to close the school but concentrates on the experience for those most closely involved. The thesis is guided by the main research question which is: “What is the impact of school closure on the various elements of a school community and is there a way to close a school and minimise this impact?” Supplementary questions seek to describe how the closure was undertaken and what factors can be identified which helped ease the transition for those involved. While seeking to develop theory grounded in the research the findings have also been informed by theory associated with grief, place attachment, emotion in the workplace and change. Unpublished primary documents such as transcripts of group interviews, responses to written questionnaires and minutes of meetings are the basic sources of data for this thesis. The researcher was an active participant in the closure and well known to all respondents. The thesis concludes that although keeping the school open for the final year was of benefit to the morale and adjustment of staff it was probably less beneficial for the students involved. It suggests that with proper counselling support and identification of the closure as a critical incident, a quick closure would help student learning outcomes and prevent teacher de-skilling. It also confirms the importance of a school, or probably any institution, in the emotional life of those associated with it. Note: The students in this study range in age from 13 to 18 years of age in Years 7 through to 12.

In case of a pandemic influenza outbreak, non-pharmaceutical interventions will likely be the only containment measure at the early stages of the pandemic when vaccines are not available. NPIs also oer an option for decreasing the probability of creating antiviral resistant viruses product of a mass prophylaxis campaign. In countries where there are not enough resources for vaccines and antivirals, NPIs may be the only mitigation actions available. NPIs have been increasingly used in preparedness plans. We can see recommendations and guidelines regarding the use of NPIs in countries, health departments and universities. Also, researchers all around the world have study the impact of NPI's in pandemic influenza outbreaks, most of them using simulation as their modeling tool. Our review of the aforementioned plans and literature shows that there is a lack of consensus in how to implement these interventions. They vary widely in the choice of key parameters such as intervention initiation threshold, duration and compliance. We believe that the lack of uniformity in NPI mitigation strategies arise from the uncertainty in the virus epidemiology and the current lack of scientic knowledge about the complex interactions between virus epidemiology with social behavioral factors and mitigation actions. In this dissertation we addressed this problem by modeling pandemic influenza outbreaks using an agent-based simulation approach. The model incorporates detailed popu- lation demographics and dynamics, variety of mixing groups and their contact processes, infection transmission process, and non-pharmaceutical interventions. Using a statistical experimental design approach we examine the influence of characteristic parameters of virus epidemiology, social behavior, and non-pharmaceutical interventions on various measures of pandemic impact such as total number of infections, deaths and contacts. The experimental design approach also yields the knowledge of the extent of interactions among the above parameters. Using this knowledge we develop eective NPI strategies and demonstrate the efficacy of these strategies on large-scale simulated outbreaks involving three dierent scenarios of virus transmissibility. The results show that signicant improvements in the NPI based pandemic mitigation approaches can be attained by the strategies derived from our methodology.

Doctor of Education / This case study looks at the impact of closing an urban secondary school. It considers the experiences of the students, the staff and the parents. It does not argue with the decision to close the school but concentrates on the experience for those most closely involved. The thesis is guided by the main research question which is: “What is the impact of school closure on the various elements of a school community and is there a way to close a school and minimise this impact?” Supplementary questions seek to describe how the closure was undertaken and what factors can be identified which helped ease the transition for those involved. While seeking to develop theory grounded in the research the findings have also been informed by theory associated with grief, place attachment, emotion in the workplace and change. Unpublished primary documents such as transcripts of group interviews, responses to written questionnaires and minutes of meetings are the basic sources of data for this thesis. The researcher was an active participant in the closure and well known to all respondents. The thesis concludes that although keeping the school open for the final year was of benefit to the morale and adjustment of staff it was probably less beneficial for the students involved. It suggests that with proper counselling support and identification of the closure as a critical incident, a quick closure would help student learning outcomes and prevent teacher de-skilling. It also confirms the importance of a school, or probably any institution, in the emotional life of those associated with it. Note: The students in this study range in age from 13 to 18 years of age in Years 7 through to 12.