This paper presents a retrospective view of how a school district implemented Site-Based Management (SBM). A pilot study examined the historical development of the site-based decision-making process so as to gain a better understanding of how a large urban school district implemented the process and to assess teachers' understanding of their roles and the processes of SBM. The report focuses on one school system's movement to decentralized decision making and the system's efforts in writing a policy for the implementation of SBM so as to learn what students, parents, and faculty saw as the priorities in making site-based decisions and to assess the faculty's knowledge of the shared decision-making structure, as well as their experiences. The paper provides a definition of site-based management and gives a historical perspective of decision-making structures in schools. Using surveys and focus groups, it was revealed that evaluation of the implementation of SBM does exist but there is no accountability in place. Furthermore, the strategic-planning process, although meeting constituents' concerns, does not have a plan of action to address survey priorities as part of the goal process for planning. (RJM)