The superintendent's role may be difficult to manage simply because of the existence of a school board. To identify critical incidents that superintendents experienced in their work with boards of education, the superintendents of all 310 K-12 districts in Nebraska were mailed letters asking if they had experienced a critical incident with a school board/board member and if they would be willing to discuss the incident(s). Of the 98 percent of responding superintendents, 58 percent reported experiencing a critical incident; 80 of these superintendents, in the spring of 1989, were interviewed by telephone and responded to 10 open-ended questions. The 80 superintendents described 151 incidents, which were grouped into 12 categories. The most frequently cited critical incidents concerned school board members and their children, relatives, and friends; board members' children, who had been banned from athletic competition, dominated the category. The second most frequently cited critical incident concerned board members' interpretations of their roles. Incidents involving individuals elected to the board on a platform of firing the superintendent were prevalent in the third category. The reported incidents suggest that superintendent preparation should include human relations and mediating conflicting demands. (9 references) (KM)