Dealing with the social-emotional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: School administrators’ leadership experiences in Texas, USA

The onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 presented unprecedented disruption to the education systems across the globe. Given that school leaders were at the forefront of guiding schools during the tumultuous times, the purpose of this article is to highlight the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic on schools and examine how school leaders addressed these challenges, particularly the lingering social-emotional disruptions the students and teachers are experiencing. This qualitative study utilized an online survey to collect the perspectives of South Texas school leaders on the challenging circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings are organized by: leadership experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic (lessons learned and critical practices), additional knowledge and skills (social-emotional well-being, resources to address social-emotional well-being, and parental engagement), and suggestions for preparation programs (students’ social-emotional learning (SEL) and teachers’ well-being). The scale of emerging pandemic-related challenges has left school leaders scrambling to seek innovative approaches to maintain a safe and orderly teaching and learning environment. Implementing SEL for students and educators seems to hold promise.