This article explores leadership of place in the context of three urban middle schools in Morocco. School reform means that principals are changing from agents of authority to leaders with school improvement responsibilities. This shift in mission can be stressful for principals who are called to lead, but are often constrained by bureaucratic and place based challenges. Grounded in Riley's framework for leadership of place, the article highlights some of the physical, socio-political, emotional and spiritual realities within which urban school principals operate. One conclusion of this study is that in the face of often overwhelming physical and socio-political realities; principals dig deeper into their emotional and spiritual reserves to improve their schools and their students' lives. Their comments further suggest that the sustainability of their reserves is strained by the lack of adequate resources, training and autonomy to take significant initiatives. Comparing these findings against the backdrop of Morocco' official commitment to ending social exclusion, there is little evidence that principals are integrated in a holistic approach against neighbourhood marginalization. Failing to empower principals to lead reinforces school isolation and misses the opportunity of leveraging principals' rootedness in the community to help end social exclusion.