There’s Battle Lines Being Drawn

This case is written for graduate students in a superintendency seminar course, a school–community relations course, or a school leadership course, such as a school politics course. It presents a highly charged school referendum issue in a school district that is comprised of two distinctly different communities. An initial referendum to construct a new middle school failed by a wide margin. The voting outcome was split along community lines. The ensuing backlash was serious and threatened the very existence of the school district. The case provides an opportunity to examine two issues: potential causes for the failure of the first referendum and an analysis of change theory and its application to a planning process that will lead.