Superintendents are in the right place at the right time to take advantage of a golden opportunity to reverse a trend that threatens the nation's schools and communities. They are now uniquely positioned to stop the retreat of good-hearted, well-intentioned citizens from public life. In this article, the authors present perpetual traps that include high ideals blended with traditional approaches to working with the public, and these are: (1) selling preordained decisions; (2) manufacturing representation; (3) dumping information; (4) cutting engagement short; (5) doing it alone; and (6) buying into the politicians and pundits. They take a brief look at three school districts that are building school-community partnerships in order to illustrate how creating an organizational structure for reconnecting schools and communities is working. In their work with the leaders of these school districts, they have discovered three constants associated with their success in building effective partnerships with their communities: (1) The partnership is community-based; (2) The partnership is all-inclusive; and (3) The partnership is supported by a courageous school leader.