In this account, the author describes and analyzes a fairly typical suburban, elementary school principal. The author has studied the principal from a cultural perspective, describing his day-to-day activities both in terms of what the principal does and the time he devoted to various administrative activities. Of the many dimensions of the particular principal studied, the author devotes particular attention to the network of relationships that develop among the principal and his staff, parents, officials of the school system, and the children; and he considers the great amount of time the principal devotes to his role as mediator among these various groups. The study also deals with perceptions of the principal's behavior by various individuals and audiences as well as with the principal's own self-perception. (Author/JF)