The objective of this study was to examine the interaction between professional and bureaucratic decisional environments in schools and discover the impact of this interaction on the processes of educational governance. A case study methodology was used to gather data; the analysis was conducted within a conceptual framework of organization theory. The study challenges several traditional assumptions about how schools are governed. For example, schools maintain interacting spheres of influence with a range of decisions outside the control of administrators. In fact, teachers often use administrators as pawns, controlling events from their own positions in the hierarchy. (Author)