Government forces mean the notion of a 'community' school has become less defined by decisions on core curriculum. This collection explores the extent to which collective notions of school-community relations have prevented citizens from speaking openly about the tensions created where schools are imagined as communities.

Introduction: Schools as Imagined Communities; D.Cobb-Roberts S.Dorn & B.Shircliffe
A Lesson in Education and Community; V.Eaklor
Crafting Community; M.Ladd Teed
Student-Community Voices; D.Cobb-Roberts
From Isolation to Imagined Communities of LGBT Teachers; J.Blount
The Closing of Blake and Middleton; B.Shircliffe
Politics of Memory, Re-imagining Community; J.Alamilla
Canal Town; J.Hall
Special Education as a Problematic Community; S.Dorn
Youth For Christ; A.Halpern
Conclusion and Lessons; D.Cobb-Roberts, S.Dorn & B.Shircliffe

SHERMAN DORN, BARBARA SHIRCLIFFE and DEIRDRE COBB-ROBERTS are historians of education at the Tampa campus of the University of South Florida, USA.