Trouble Signs Ethical Case Studies Jacinda Jazz Conboy

Trouble Signs &Ethical Case Studies Jacinda “Jazz” Conboy, Esq. , General Counsel Charles S. Dedrick, Ed. D. , Executive Director

ISLLC STANDARDS • Standard 1: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community. • Standard 2: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth. • Standard 3: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by ensuring management of the organization, operations, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.

ISLLC cont… • Standard 4 : A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources. • Standard 5: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner. • Standard 6: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.

Trouble Signs v. The Board meeting without you and you don’t know why; v. Your Board is meeting with other Administrators and you are unaware of the meetings; v. Board members who are aligned with each other are meeting off site; v. Your Board or Board members are meeting with union leaders without you (on-site or off-site);

Trouble Signs cont…. v. Your attorneys’ bill increases and you don’t know why; v. Agenda items appear on your board agendas that you knew nothing about; v. Your time and attendance is questioned; v. Your professional development and expenses are questioned v. You are overwhelmed with report & data requests; v. You are criticized for lack of communication;

Trouble Signs cont…. v Board members are acting like everything is fine when it has previously been contentious; v The communication/requests from the Board which was previously voluminous has significantly decreased;

Public Perceptions v Cars v. Designer Bags v. Hotels/Travel v. Social Media v. Contract Issues ØSalary ØPay-outs ØTake the lead

Scenarios Real life scenarios that have lead to Superintendent’s buy-outs and/or dismissals.

Hiring Your Board Vice President calls you and tells you to hire Candidate “A” for a teaching position. You later learn that Candidate “A” is the Vice President’s niece. What do you do?

Travel On the return from a national conference you have the opportunity to divert your flight to Florida to visit your favorite Aunt Annie. The flight cost is less and you would use personal time. The Board has no objection. Do you go?

Mileage You leave from your house which is outside of the District and stop at your Assistant Superintendent’s house to pick her up to attend a conference, you submit you total mileage for the trip for reimbursement. What mileage should be submitted? Should mileage from the District to the event only be submitted? What if the distance from the Superintendent’s house is shorter than the distance from the District?

Time You attend a meeting that ends at 2 pm. The previous evening you had been at a Board meeting until 11 pm. You do not return to work after the meeting. Should you return to work? Do you take the afternoon off? Do you take half a vacation day?

Gifts A contractor doing work at your District stops in your office and drops off a jacket with the contractor’s logo on it. Can you keep the jacket?

Cell Phone/Computer Use • Should you take a District Issued Phone? ▫ Pros/cons; ▫ Charging/downloading risks; • District Issued Lap-Top ▫ Google – signing on to your personal Google account at work you share your entire browser history (browser history, where and time, bookmarks);

Gifts You attend a conference and receive an invitation from your school attorney to attend a party at a restaurant where food and cocktails are being provided. Can you attend? What if the invitation says: “Join us for an informal discussion of school law issues discussed at the conference, hors d’oeuvres and cocktails will be served”

Gifts – The Rules The superintendent shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit a gift or accept or receive any gift having a value of $75 or more under circumstances in which it could reasonably be inferred that the gift was intended to influence him or was intended as a reward for any official action. (NY Gen. Munic. Law. § 805 -a(1)) This includes gifts in any form including money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality or other promise.

Outside Work You have worked as a consultant for a technology company that provides services to schools (other than where you work) for a number of years; before you became a consultant the outside work was approved by your Board, the School Attorney and your own personal attorney. Do you have any ethical issues?

Vacation/Sick Days You have asked your assistant to record and report all of your vacation and sick days. You are entitled to reimbursement annually of 5 sick days and 5 vacation days. You submit for reimbursement 3 sick days and 3 vacation days (a total of 6). You are reimbursed by the District but later learn that two vacations days were improperly reported as sick days, so you should have submitted reimbursement for 1 vacation day and 5 sick days (a total of 6). What do you do?

“On the Record” A teacher approaches you and tells you that the Chair of her department, a male employee makes her feel uncomfortable, has made some inappropriate comments to her, and has made some jokes with a sexual connotation in the teachers’ break room. The teacher does not have tenure and thus, requests that nothing be done about it but she says she wants it on record as to what is going on. What do you do? Do you institute an investigation even though the teacher has asked you to keep the matter confidential?

Health Insurance Ø Who can be on your family health insurance plan? Ø Who is actually on your family health insurance plan? Ø What if you have unauthorized individuals on your family health insurance plan? Ø What if your spouse works for the District?

Benefits • Everyone else has a benefit that is not in your contract; • District policy vs. District practice; • Holidays;

Sexual Misconduct The Superintendent becomes aware that a 17 -year old male student had a sexual relationship with a female teacher. The Superintendent does an investigation - the student and the student’s mother confirm the allegations and the accused teacher denies the allegations. The mother of the student wants the matter kept quiet. The Board wants the teacher counseled but does not want the Superintendent to take any further action. What should the Superintendent do?

Reporting Requirements 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. School Attorney Board President Police State Registry Part 83

Part § 83 “Any information indicating that an individual holding a teaching certificate has been convicted of a crime, or has committed an act which raises a reasonable question as to the individual's moral character, shall be referred by the chief school administrator having knowledge thereof to the professional conduct officer of the department. ” (emphasis added)

THE COUNCIL’s Resources • General Counsel • Ethics Committee • Confidential Mentors

Contact Information Chuck Dedrick, Executive Director Jacinda H. Conboy, General Counsel THE COUNCIL 7 Elk Street, Third Floor Albany, NY 12207 (518) 449 -1063 Twitter @Jazz. Conboy @csdedrick Jacinda@nyscoss. org Charles@nyscoss. org