School boards can have relationships to their school systems' central office that feature either democratic, administrative, or political styles of decision-making. The school board members themselves serve as active delegates for community interests, as trustees of educational tradition, or even as passive rubber stamps for the central office's professional opinions. An examination of the smooth response of the Columbus, Ohio, school system to the severe winter and fuel shortage conditions of 1977 reveals that in this particular system, exhibiting the administrative style of decision-making, the posture of the school board toward the central office did not change during a time of crisis, but was in fact maintained and intensified. (Author/PGD)