Reconceptualizing the secondary school principal's role in relation to school-community involvements, this paper is the result of a three-part study. That study included a survey sample of school principals, a series of site conferences, and a seminar sharing data and plans from which the manuscript was prepared. The first chapter discusses the principal's mode of action and includes guides for enhancing school-community involvement. The struggles for control by advocacy groups are chronicled in the second chapter, with shared ownership of the schools emerging as a viable form of operation. In the third chapter a model is presented providing a typology with which the principal can relate linkage mechanisms to type of community influence. The vulnerability of the principal, power strategies, pressure groups, reading the community, and principal authority are discussed in the fourth chapter. The fifth chapter defines community involvement, teacher autonomy, principal support for teacher autonomy, teacher receptiveness to community, and functional equivalency. Presenting concepts to guide principal practices, the sixth chapter delineates the specifics of the principal's job. In the final chapter a discussion of principals' dilemmas, myths concerning school-community relations, role choices, strategy choices, and planning is reviewed. (MD)