This case study examined the role of parents as decision-makers in the founding of an elementary (K-1) charter school serving 44 children and their families in a California metropolitan area. The study focused on the working relationship between the parents and the founding director, and the effects of this relationship on the organization's functioning. Data were collected through 7 months of participant observation, interviews conducted with staff and parents, and document analysis. Data included: (1) dissension among parents regarding the founding teacher's performance, especially with regard to making decisions unilaterally; (2) negative feelings and beliefs about the regular public schools serving as an anchor in the decision to found the charter school; (3) the powerful role designated for the founding director in the charter school petition; (4) the director's abandonment of a collective structure for a hierarchical decision-making structure; (5) the uniting of parents and staff as they prepared the school site; (6) parental concerns about curriculum and discipline; (7) the lack of a formal grievance procedure; (8) the use of mediation to address parent-director conflict; and (9) parents' lack of knowledge or engagement before the school opened. The study concluded that parents need to take responsibility for making crucial organizational decisions from the beginning and noted that parents and others can learn strategies for making good organizational and educational decisions for their local school. (Contains 25 references.) (KDFB)