Reflection: Code of Ethics for School Leaders

I can vividly recall how I felt with each incident that I wrote about.  I felt that we had staff members cheating the system and our students out of money in all funding examples.  I also felt our students and the integrity of our system were being cheated with regards to all examples given.  I felt let down that in some cases the upper admin (supt) didn’t turn to the authorities or TEA in some cases.  Looking at it now, I guess as an upper administrator, you have to consider what that type of publicity and action can cost your district in terms of money and trust from the public.  I guess you have to weigh all sides when considering to file charges or not in certain situations; it may be cheaper to just fire them and allow them to move on, except of course for incidents/activities in which we are legally required to notify TEA and/or authorities.  All incidents were several years ago in another district.  Some of those incidents created a terrible dissention throughout the district. I’m glad to say that I'm in a district now in which our Board and administrators have much more integrity and they model this integrity and their expectations to all of us when they get the chance.  It’s quite obvious every day that our district staff and our Board members are truly here to make decisions about what’s best for students in this district, not what’s best for themselves, their own children or children of their friends, and/or their own pocketbooks.  This exercise reminded me of how much of an impact unethical behavior can have on a school district and how important it is to communicate upfront the behavior expectations and to review the code of ethics on a regular basis (beginning of each year) with staff.  It sends a message that you believe strongly in the ethics and plan to uphold them.