Concern for the dropout phenomenon among secondary learning disabled (LD) students led to a preliminary study of an urban school's decision-making structures, as well as events that influence ninth graders' behavior and decisions, increasing their risk for dropping out of high school. Data were collected from three sources: observation of school staffing committee meetings (designed to address serious problems of referred students), 17 school personnel interviews, and 14 interviews with ninth graders, including 5 identified as LD. It was concluded that orientation activities and academic scheduling procedures were not effective in integrating students quickly into high school activities or sustaining them throughout the school year. In addition, the energy and resources expended on problem students referred for staffing far exceeded that which was expended on incoming ninth graders before problems were reported. Further study of the high school experiences of ninth graders in relation to the dropout issue is planned. (JW)