Three leadership imperatives for school board members in school reform are presented in this paper. The imperatives are linked to specific challenges confronting the public school system, which include collective bargaining, student testing, and cultural diversity. Each is discussed and related to a legislative school board action that determines policies and programs. Suggestions are made for increasing board responsibility for accountable personnel contracts, considering alternative forms of student assessment, and creating cultural pluralism without divisiveness. A conclusion is that the effective school board member is an interpreter and translator of social events into educational policy. Ten commandments for board members are listed. (67 references) (LMI)