Case Study (2)

A taskforce for positive youth development has been formed by a local school district. The taskforce is a collaboration between the district and the university, and it is funded by both. The taskforce is made up of five full-time members and five adjunct members. Every month, the five full members gather for a meeting. The taskforce's goal is to make recommendations to the district on how to incorporate positive youth development principles into school environments, including academics and extracurricular activities. The district primarily serves low-income youth and families. This community's graduation and college entrance rates are both lower than the state averages.

The five full-time members of the team are listed below:

Professor Towne: Professor Towne is from the university and is an expert in youth development. Professor Towne has worked in this field for over 30 years.

Mrs. Nidal: Mrs. Nidal is a teacher with over 20 years of experience at the largest public high school in the district. She has been recognized by the district for excellent service.

Mr. Hernandez: Mr. Hernandez is the vice-principal of an elementary school in the district. He also coordinates the districts extra-curricular activities. He is new to the district, a recent graduate with a Masters in Education.

Mr. Bradley: Mr. Bradley is the coordinator of a mentoring program. He works both at the university and at the same school as Mrs. Nidal. The program brings in college students to mentor high school students. Mr. Bradley has coordinated this program for five years.

Maya Soto: Maya Soto is the youth member of the taskforce. She is in the 10th grade and is the 10th grade class president and a member of the volleyball team. She is also a participant in Mr. Bradleys mentoring program. The task force has met four times this year. They have six more meetings until their work needs to be submitted to the district for review. So far they have completed a review of research and have an outline for providing recommendations to the district. The first few times the task force met, the discussion was dominated by Mrs. Nidal and Mr. Hernandez. Their conversation tended to drift into school and district reform efforts, school budget cuts, etc. Maya often remains quiet through most of the discussion. Professor Towne feels like they are losing time and need to focus more on the task at hand and making final recommendations for the district.

Discussion Questions

1) What leadership styles could be developed in this situation?

2) Which kind of style do you think a leader would need to be effective in this situation?