Findings of a study that examined the effect of school board administrative change strategies on the degree of community opposition to school closing decisions are presented in this paper. The study is based on Kotter and Schlesinger's (1974) conceptual model that identifies six effective change strategies: education and communication, participation and involvement, facilitation and support, negotiation and agreement, manipulation and cooperation, and implicit and explicit coercion. The case study of two New York school districts--Buffalo and Jericho--involved document analysis and community surveys. Findings indicate that the districts maintained or heightened community support through utilizing the four strategies of openness (the first four of the six aforementioned change strategies). The two controlling strategies (the final two of the six change strategies) were least effective for managing change. A conclusion is that the strategy of openness, combined with a focus on the improvement of educational quality, was most effective in reducing conflict and increasing support. (LMI)