SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER
ETHICS
1.1
Preamble
The following Code of Ethics has been voted by the School Committee members who
carry a- high degree of responsibility toward their community, their superintendent,
school administration. and their fellow committee members.
The acceptance of a code of ethics implies the understanding of the basic
organization of school committees under the Laws of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. The oath of office of a school committee member binds the individual
member to adherence to those state laws which apply to school committee, since school
committees are agencies of the state.
This code of ethics delineates three areas of responsibility of school committee
members in addition to that implied above: (1) community responsibility; (2)
responsibility to school administration; and (3) relationships to fellow committee
members.
A School Committee member in his relations with his community should:
- Realize that his primary responsibility is to the children.
- Recognize that his basic function is to be policy making and not
administrative.
- Remember that he is one of a team and must abide by, and carry out, all
Committee decisions once they are made.
- Be well informed concerning the duties of a committee member on both a local
and state level.
- Remember that he represents the entire community at all times.
- Accept the office as a committee member as means of unselfish service with no
intent to "play politics," in any sense of the word, or to benefit personally from
his committee activities.
A School Committee member in his relations with his school administration
should:
- Try to procure, when the occasion arises, the best professional leader
possible for the position of superintendent wherever he or she may come from.
- Endeavor to establish sound, clearly defined policies which will direct and
support the administration.
- Recognize and support the administrative chain of command and refuse to act on
the complaints as an individual outside the administration.
- Give the chief administrator full responsibility for discharging his/her
professional duties and hold him/her responsible for acceptable results.
- Refer all complaints to the administrative staff for solution and only discuss
them at committee meetings if such solutions fail.
A School Committee member in his relations with his fellow committee members
should:
- Recognize that action at official meetings is binding and that he alone cannot
bind the committee outside of such meetings.
- Realize that he should not make statements or promises of how he will vote on
matters that will come before the committee.
- Uphold the intent of executive sessions and respect the privileged
communication that exists in executive sessions.
- Refuse to take part in irregular secret meetings at which only part of
the membership is present.
- Not withhold pertinent information on school matters of personnel problems,
either from members of his own committee or from members of other committees who
may be seeking help or information on school problems.
- Make decisions only after all facts on a question have been presented and
discussed.
As elected officers of the Town of Millis charged with the important
responsibility of public education, the School Committee individually and
collectively expresses itself as being unwilling to react to pressures deleterious to
the advancement of public education when such pressures shall be brought upon the
School Committee's decision making function.
(This Code of Ethics includes the Code of Ethics of the Massachusetts Association
of School Committees adopted May 22, 1964)
First Reading:
Adoption: