Perceptions and Pathways: Exploring School Personnel Views of System-Involved Families’ School Engagement

Work shows that involvement in state surveilling systems, like immigration enforcement, child protective services, and the criminal legal system, can impact parents’ ability to engage in their child’s education. Given the continued importance of parent involvement in schooling for child educational success and the importance of teacher perceptions in shaping children’s schooling experiences, this study aims to explore how school personnel perceive and attempt to work with system-involved families. Drawing on interviews with 28 elementary school personnel from a moderate-sized public school district, we (1) explore school actors’ expectations of parental involvement, (2) identify three perceived family–school relationship dynamics that lead to differing pathways of engagement and support, and (3) describe strategies school personnel use to repair ruptured relationships. We find that school personnel hold multifaceted views of system-involved parents and perceive factors like school-based reporting, normative expectations around “partnership,” and structural barriers as influencing the family–school relationship.