The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the context and process by which the Board adopted a policy, came to question that policy, and ultimately rescinded that policy, while maintaining legitimacy within its environment. In 1977, the Board of Directors of a large urban school district adopted a policy establishing successful passage of a "life skills" minimum competency test as a high school graduation requirement. In 1979, community groups were successful in persuading the Board to delay implementation of the requirement for one year. In 1981, the same community groups were successful in persuading the Board to delay implementation indefinitely. In early 1983, when the testing issue was again considered by the Board, the Board voted to eliminate passage of the test as a graduation requirement. While the minimum competency issue was going through these steps of acceptance, hesitation, and rejection, a desegregation plan was implemented successfully. To further illuminate these processes, five aspects of Board/staff/community behaviors relating to the desegration plan are compared to behaviors relating to the minimum competency issue. These aspects include Board commitment, superintendent commitment, rhetorical approach, information approach, and consensus-building. (BW)