The community school model is rooted in John Dewey's (1902) conceptualization of the public school as a hub for the community. This work has evolved over a hundred years and recently experienced prominence in the public eye as a fundamental component of New York City's school turnaround policy. This dissertation describes findings and recommendations from interviews with leaders in ten New York City community schools. These interviews are triangulated with analysis of the New York City school environment survey using both faculty and parent responses. This research investigated the values, processes and behaviors of leaders that hinder or contribute to the partnership between community based organizations (CBO) and the Department of Education (DOE). Principals of community schools must undergo a paradigm shift, shaped by the understanding that leading a community school is different from a traditional public school, and requires specific skills and behaviors. Primarily, school leaders need to cultivate a distributed leadership approach supported by practices of mindfulness and the cultivation of collaborative systems. In order to create a healthy school climate, they must develop processes to collaboratively create school values and vision and periodically revisit how these values are being supported by the community school. This work is hindered by a lack of specific policies supporting community school management and daily practices, as well as an unclear definition of roles and hierarchy. An emerging theme was the disproportional cultural capital of CBO staff compared to DOE staff, and the author provides recommendations to address the accountability imbalance which reinforces this dynamic between the two factions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]