This study illustrates Professor William P. Foster’s ideas about narratives of schooling, leadership, and community inherent in his critical theory of educational leadership. The case study explored how a superintendent of a regional educational agency, along with 10 district-level superintendents in the agency’s service area, shifted from schooling as economic utility to a focus on teaching and learning. The case was constructed from participant research. Results suggest that the superintendents, who demonstrated leadership that Foster recommended as critical, transformative, educative, and ethical, implemented schooling with equity for all students. In addition, an ethic of community emerged through the superintendents’ shared understanding of the purpose of their work and when they began to adjust their work between leadership and followership roles.
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