After a school district is desegregated, what factors determine whether the individual school becomes a harmonious entity with full acceptance of both races, or simply another resegregated school where blacks and whites coexist uneasily? This study attempts to demonstrate that in a school's alteration from segregation to desegregation, the administrative position most centrally involved in the institionalization of this social change is its chief administrative officer--the public school principal. From an exploratory pilot study of 17 principals and assistant principals conducted in York County, Va., in the spring and summer of 1969, a questionnaire was developed to probe three dimensions of the principal's role in desegregation. During the winter of 1970, a statewide questionnaire survey of all principals of Virginia high schools, junior highs, and combined schools was conducted. Of the 481 questionnaires mailed, 312 were returned in a manner acceptable for survey data. Findings are grouped in three areas: the principal's influence in the community, the principal as change agent in the school, and the principal's power status in the school system. These findings lead to the conclusion that desegregation is redefining the role of the principal. (Author/JM)