The maintenance of unusually high standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality, and professional conduct by School District employees is essential to ensure the proper performance of school business as well as to earn and keep public confidence in the School District.

To accomplish this, the Board of Education has adopted the following guidelines to assure that conflicts of interest do not occur. These are not intended to be all inclusive, nor to substitute for good judgment on the part of all employees. Employees are expected to perform their duties in a manner free from conflict of interest consistent with 19.59, Wis. Stats.

 

A.    No employee shall engage in or have a financial interest, directly or indirectly, in any activity that conflicts or raises a reasonable question of conflict with his/her duties and responsibilities in the school system.

B.    Employees shall not engage in business, private practice of their profession, the rendering of services, or the sale of goods of any type where advantage is taken of any professional relationship they may have with any student, client, or parents of such students or clients in the course of their employment with the School District.

 

Included, by way of illustration rather than limitation are the following:

 

1.    the provision of any private lessons or services for a fee

2.    soliciting on school premises or under circumstances which are coercive for the private sale of goods or services to students or other employees.

 

3.    the use, sale, or improper divulging of any privileged information about a student or client gained in the course of the employee's employment or through his/her access to School District records

4.    the referral of any student or client for lessons or services to any private business or professional practitioner if there is any expectation of reciprocal referrals, sharing of fees, or other remuneration for such referrals

5.    the requirement of students or clients to purchase any private goods or services provided by an employee or any business or professional practitioner with whom any employee has a financial relationship, as a condition of receiving any grades, credits, promotions, approvals, or recommendations

 

C.    Employees shall not make use of materials, equipment, or facilities of the School District in private practice. Examples would be the use of facilities before, during, or after regular business hours for service to private practice clients, or the checking out of items from an instructional materials center for private practice.

D.    Should exceptions to this policy be necessary in order to provide mandatory services to students or clients of the School District, all such exceptions will be made known to the employee's supervisor and will be disclosed to the District Administrator before entering into any private relationship.