This single case study of a school district described how school leaders created educational programs and practices that feature elements of a caring environment wihtin which students were frequently offered choices in their learning experiences. Data from a survey, school observations, interviews and formal documents were analyzed using a mixed method qualitative approach of triangulation, expansion and complementarity methods of analysis. The study determined that a caring environment with student choices existed in the district and its programs and practices were consistent with the literature on resiliency. The study also found the environment that developed through several critical events over eighteen years translated a vision into the organizational mission and belief. The leadership role was characterized by commitment to vision, mobilization of structure, a superintendent's stable tenure, and a proliferation of programs in a small school district size
