<![CDATA[ Religious diversity in elementary schools can generate social friction when it is not managed through appropriate leadership. This qualitative case study examines the application of Fiedler's contingency leadership and interfaith communication in preventing friction at SDN 011 Sangatta Utara, East Kutai Regency, a school with 95.2% Muslim and 4.8% non-Muslim students. Data were collected through document study (the school's curriculum document and national basic education data) and interviews with the principal and four religious education teachers (Islam, Catholic, Protestant, and Hindu). Findings show that the principal applies a leadership style that shifts according to the situation: democratic-participatory for general programs and firm-responsive for sensitive religious issues, supported by fair authority distribution and equal religious scheduling policies. Interfaith communication occurs through coordination forums among religious teachers, involvement in school planning meetings, joint cross-religious activities, and solution-oriented closed-door mediation. Tolerance values are actively instilled through four complementary religious pathways. However, the study reveals an important gap: the absence of scheduled alternative activities for non-Muslim students during majority-oriented daily habituation, and interfaith communication that remains more reactive to incidents than institutionally preventive. The practical implication is that principals need to institutionalize scheduled interfaith communication forums and design equitable alternative activities for minority groups, while the theoretical implication enriches Islamic education management studies with empirical evidence of contingency leadership applied to religious diversity in elementary schools.]]>
