“Schools constitute minisocieties within the larger culture. They are structured by norms
and conventions that frame the affective, personal, and moral elements of the school experience”
(Nucci, 2001, p.141). The principal is the key player in a school; for it is from the principal that
the climate of the school will come. The climate of a school is the moral feeling of the place
derived from the values that the principal advocates and makes actionable. The climate
significantly impacts the culture. The culture is defined by the practices, both explicit and
implicit, in which the constituents of the school are involved. These behaviors may be either
codified and sanctioned, as in a specific way for addressing grievances within the school, or they
may be unspoken assumptions about how one achieves his/her objectives within the community.
The climate and culture of the school impacts the type of community that a school will be. The
sense of community is defined by how the relationships within the school are created, valued,
sustained and managed. Is the school focused on normative behavior, enforced by rules and
regulations, or is there a sense that the community places a value on democratic participation and
on positive, affirming relationships among all members of the community above any other
considerations?