The 2020 election season was one of the most polarized I’ve experienced, and that polarization wasn’t limited to adults. My own two children felt it in ways I hadn’t anticipated. You’re reading this just a couple of days after Halloween, which takes me back to an experience my kids had while trick-or-treating in 2020.
As they approached a house, excited to collect another handful of candy, the adult answering the door asked, “Who did you vote for?”
My kids, savvy enough to recognize the oddity of the question, responded, “We can’t vote. We’re too young.”
“Well, who did your parents vote for?”
Two children, out enjoying Halloween, were suddenly being asked to account for their parents’ political choices. It was a small interaction in the context of a contentious election, but it illustrated how deeply political divisions had worked their way into everyday life, including the lives of children. Politics doesn’t just seep into schools. Sometimes it floods in.
On November 3, 2020, TIME published an article titled “‘You Can’t Be Silent’: Schools Brace for the Presidential Election Aftermath”. The article captured the uncertainty facing educators as they prepared for the reactions, conversations, and potential conflicts that might follow the election. In the days that followed, we saw just how difficult navigating those tensions could become.
As principals, we have little control over the political environment surrounding our schools or the outcome of an election. But we have tremendous influence over how our schools respond to the challenges and opportunities those moments present. This week is one of those moments when our leadership matters most.
Elections Are Not in Our Control. Our Reactions Are.
On Wednesday morning, our schools will open just as they always do. Buses will arrive, students will gather in hallways, and teachers will welcome their classes. But the atmosphere may feel very different. Some students will arrive excited about the results, others disappointed, and some genuinely worried about what the outcome might mean for themselves or their families. Many won’t have given the election much thought at all, at least until someone else brings it up.
We cannot control the conversations happening around dinner tables or the political commentary filling social media feeds. We also cannot control every reaction our students, staff, or families will have. What we can control is how we respond, the expectations we reinforce, and the example we set.
We may have strong personal opinions about an election, and, like everyone else, we experience the emotions that accompany the results. But leading a school requires us to recognize those emotions without allowing them to determine how we treat others or make decisions.
Political neutrality doesn’t mean abandoning our responsibility to students. We can remain impartial about candidates and parties while being unequivocal about how people treat one another. Students are entitled to their beliefs, including those we may personally disagree with. But expressing a political opinion does not give anyone permission to intimidate, demean, or exclude someone else.
During the 2020 election, students wore political campaign apparel from both sides, repeated inappropriate comments, and sometimes said things they may not have fully understood. I don’t believe those were bad kids. They were young people trying to make sense of a world that had become increasingly divided. Students have a right to express political views, including through what they wear; our role is to address conduct that disrupts learning or targets others. A different election outcome might have produced different behaviors or concerns, but our responsibility would have remained the same. We need to help students understand the impact of their words and actions while maintaining an environment where everyone belongs.
A Culture of Respect Is Built Before It’s Tested
I’ve always believed that the culture of a school becomes most visible when things get difficult. If you’ve read any of my other articles or attended a breakout on leadership communication, you’ve probably heard me say that we “cannot draw water from an empty well.” As principals, we’ve been filling that well through the work we do every day, often without recognizing it.
Think about the interactions you’ve had with students, teachers and parents. The time you listened to a frustrated parent rather than becoming defensive, helped a student understand a poor decision, or supported a teacher through a difficult situation. These individual micro-moments, repeated over time, build the macro-culture of our schools. They establish what people can expect from us and what we expect from one another.
A strong Culture of Respect begins with empathy. We know our students experience the world differently and that their reactions may be shaped by their families, identities, and sense of security. Some may be celebrating while others are genuinely afraid. We’ve spent our careers learning to listen, understand and respond to students whose experiences differ from our own. Wednesday calls upon that same capacity.
Empathy doesn’t mean lowering our expectations. We can understand why a student might say something hurtful without excusing the behavior. We can acknowledge that people hold deeply personal beliefs while expecting them to treat others with dignity. We should expect our students, teachers and ourselves to rise to those expectations, particularly when emotions make doing so difficult. Respect isn’t about avoiding disagreement or making everyone comfortable. It’s about demonstrating that people can hold different beliefs while remaining valued members of the same community.
Trust strengthens those expectations and extends our culture beyond the classroom. Students and families need to believe we’ll listen and respond fairly, even when they disagree with our decisions. Teachers need to know their principal will support them when difficult situations arise. We’ve built those relationships through consistent decisions, honest conversations and a willingness to engage with people whose perspectives differ from our own. Every interaction with a student, teacher, or parent offers another opportunity to strengthen that trust and reinforce the culture we share.
Wednesday morning doesn’t require us to become different leaders or suddenly develop a new set of skills. It asks us to recognize the culture we’ve been building through thousands of small interactions and lean into the empathy, expectations, fairness and trust that have helped our schools navigate difficult moments before. How we lead on Wednesday becomes another micro-moment shaping the culture we’re continuing to build.
Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
One of the greatest challenges of being a principal is that there are always competing voices telling you what deserves your attention. In moments of political division, those voices can become especially loud. Parents may expect a particular response, community members may question our decisions, and even well-intentioned conversations can pull us toward debates that aren’t ours to settle.
I’ve found that in these moments, it’s important to return to a simple question: What is best for our kids?
That doesn’t mean every decision will be easy or that everyone will agree with the answer. Some students may need reassurance, others may need a conversation about their behavior, and others may simply need the consistency and predictability of a normal school day. Our responsibility extends to all of them, including those whose families hold beliefs very different from our own.
Steadiness isn’t about avoiding difficult conversations or pretending political differences don’t exist. It’s about having the discipline to remain grounded in our purpose when circumstances become emotional or unpredictable. Sometimes that requires listening and giving people space. Other times it requires intervening decisively, even when doing so may invite criticism.
Our students are watching how we navigate these moments. They’re learning whether disagreement has to become division, whether strong emotions excuse hurtful behavior and whether the values we talk about throughout the year still apply when circumstances become uncomfortable.
The day after an election is not the time to decide what kind of school community we want to be. It’s the time to demonstrate the community we’ve been working to become.
I return to my kids standing on that doorstep in 2020, being asked a question that should never have been part of their Halloween experience. They weren’t looking for a political conversation. They were just kids hoping for some candy and a little fun with their friends.
Our students deserve the opportunity to be kids, to learn, to grow, and to find their place in a community that values them regardless of the political divisions surrounding them. We cannot shield them from every difficult conversation or disagreement, nor should we. But we can make sure that when they walk through our school doors, they encounter adults who are prepared to lead with empathy, maintain high expectations and protect the dignity of every student.
That’s what our students need from us on Wednesday morning, and every morning that follows.
Practical Takeaways
- Remind staff of district expectations for political neutrality in the classroom and on school communication channels.
- Touch base with counselors and social workers about students who may need support Wednesday.
- Review dress code and conduct expectations with your administrative team so responses are consistent and viewpoint-neutral.
- Have a short, neutral message ready in case an incident requires communication with families.
- Prepare for the possibility that results, especially in close races, may not be final Wednesday morning.
If you want to dig deeper, click here to hear our first featured Legal Lowdown (available to MASSP members) from Kevin Sutton, Miller Johnson attorney, which also talks about the legal side of student expression and politics.