Contrast between the appearances and the reality of several aspects of a school environment, including a participative management style, a democratic leadership style, the principal's image as democratic, and attentiveness to student needs is discussed as related to a boarding school in Israel. During an exploratory case study, observations were made regarding the attempts by this boarding school to socialize lower socioeconomic students to the mainstream of Israeli culture. The situational experiences that were observed gave evidence that the school was not organized or governed in a participatory manner, but was autocratic. While not generalizable to any specific populations, the study concluded that the staff held a stereotypical concept of students that affected the organization of the school. Also, educational administrators are cautioned not to deceive themselves by cultivating the appearance, instead of the reality, of school-based management. Two pages of references, an organizational chart, and student daily schedules are attached. (LMS)