The North Carolina legislature has mandated establishing school/university partnership lab schools. Partnership schools may help to drive school improvement efforts; however, educators have been forced to adopt multiple initiatives aimed at the improvement of K-12 education and teacher preparation. The likelihood of teachers and professors yet again accepting a top-down non-educator initiative, is questionable. Further, universities still tend to drive partnership direction and activity, with little shift in power and control towards schools. The challenge of developing and sustaining a true partnership may be difficult enough when mutual ownership and voice has grown organically. Addressing this challenge as mandated is far more problematic. A lack of attention to cultural power and boundaries, teacher leadership, and teacher role and identity may limit the impact of such initiatives. The story of a mandated lab school allows us to further understand such issues through the lenses of its participants, beginning with the teachers.