Code of Ethics - Ethic Violations

Here are a few examples of ethic violations in Professional Ethical Conduct, Practices and Performance.

Standard 1.2 The educator shall not knowingly misappropriate, divert, or use monies,   personnel, property, or equipment committed to his or her charge for personal gain or advantage.

Example 1 - Computer Maintenance teacher used school equipment to repair computers for personal gain.  School surveillance cameras indicate that the instructor removed a laptop from the classroom which was reported stolen.

Example 2 – District Superintendent purchased materials for school district from privately owned lumber and construction business to benefit for personal gains. The majority of materials needed for construction or repair in the district were purchased from his business.

Standard 1.5 The educator shall neither accept nor offer gratuities, gifts, or favors that impair professional judgment or to obtain special advantage.  This standard shall not restrict the acceptance of gifts or tokens offered and accepted openly from students, parents of students, or other persons or organizations in recognition or appreciation of service.

Example 3 – A Superintendent received gifts from a construction company that was chosen to construct schools and buildings for a district.

Ethical Conduct Toward Professional Colleagues.

I am having difficulty trying to tie these ethical violations to funding or financial issues.

Standard 2.3 The educator shall adhere to written local school board policies and state and federal laws regarding the hiring, evaluation, and dismissal of personnel.

Example 4 – Administrator hires employee for district with the intentions of receiving personal gain for the hiring.

Standard 2.2 The educator shall not harm others by knowingly making false statements about a colleague or the school system.

Example 5 – Administration accuses employee of submitting false reimbursement reports without having the proper evidence.

Consequences:

In Example 1 a teacher can be released from his job if he is caught stealing from the school district.

In Example 2 a district’s Superintendent will be released from his job if there is evidence showing that he purchasing materials from his own business for personal gain. The Superintendent in this case was fired.

In Example 3 the district’s Superintendent resigned from his job and is facing State and Federal charges.

Preventive Action Plan

All school personnel receive sexual harassment training every year.  This is a measure to prevent sexual harassment in a school district.  The district might want to consider training on The Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educators.  This training will help prevent ethic violations in a district.

Final Reflections EDLD 5342 School Finance

EDLD 5342 School Finance

Everything we did and learned in this class served as an excellent learning experience for me.  Everything from the History of School Finance, M&O Funding, WADA to Equality, Equity and Adequacy.  School finance will be the most challenging job for a school Superintendent.  One thing for sure is that one person alone can’t handle school finances.  It takes a team effort.  Working together as group in this class demonstrated a classic example of teamwork.  Every member of the team contributed his or her point of view regarding different funding issues.  Working together made the process of completing weekly assignments less challenging.  All members of the group made the challenge easier. At times I found it difficult to be a contributing member of my group because of my work schedule.  All members of the cohort have different work schedules and different challenges throughout the week.  If we all worked for the same district, we pretty much would have been on the same pace. My interview with the Superintendent and District Manger were beneficial to me.  They provided me with an insight and understanding of the planning, monitoring and evaluation process of the district’s budget.  As future district leaders it is important that use all the resources of EDLU 5342 School Finance as tool to prepare us with the knowledge needed to lead a school district in the right path with a well planned balanced budget that will receive high ratings in the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas. It is also important that we surround ourselvelves with colleagues that trustworthy and knowledgeable in school finance procedures.