As American schools increasingly are called on to ensure students have the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century, school districts nationwide are responding with a renewed interest in systemic change. The revived attention notwithstanding, educators, policymakers and the public still misunderstand the true meaning of systemic change in general and systemic transformational change in particular. In this article, the author provides definitions of systemic change and systemic transformational change, and discusses strategies for bringing the stakeholders together and creating buy-in for transforming a school system. For systemic transformational change to be successful, all stakeholders must buy into and feel a part of the process of creating the bright future the school district leaders envision. The most important strategy for creating and communicating this vision and bringing internal and external stakeholders together is strategic communication. Strategic communication connects a school district's vision, mission and strategic goals to the needs and aspirations of a community and its children, and this kind of communication gives purpose to the work that educators do in their school districts.