Code of Ethical Conduct for Kentucky School Board Members

As a member of a Kentucky board of education and mindful of the pledges made in my oath of office, I accept the duty to represent my community and my district’s students, parents and staff and to improve public education by putting “students first” in my decisions. To that end I will:

• govern effectively and with integrity, emphasize student achievement and practice good stewardship of the district’s human, financial and property resources;
• participate in all board meetings, insofar as possible, having studied advance materials and, having given careful consideration to input from individuals and/or interested community groups, ready to base decisions on my independent judgment;
• act as a staunch advocate for high quality schools, instructional curricula and professional staff dedicated to the educational welfare of all children, regardless of their ability, race, creed, sex or social standing, and maintain an evolving knowledge about educational advances.
• obey and uphold all laws, rules, regulations and court orders of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and of the United States, reserving the right to bring about needed changes through legal and ethical procedures;
• help my constituents to understand the importance of broad community support and involvement in our public schools, especially by encouraging citizen participation in board meetings, and in turn, serve my constituents by helping ensure accountability of our schools to our community;
• recognize my duty to listen as well as to lead, respect opinions which differ from my own, reflect that no one member acts or speaks for the board, and remember that final actions, made by majority vote in an official meeting, should be supported by all members;
• provide community insight to the superintendent and evaluate the administration’s responses to community expectations, work to adopt effective policies which give the administration authority commensurate to its responsibilities, demonstrate the support and respect due the district’s skilled, professional employees and shun actions which could be interpreted as an attempt to run the schools through the administration;
• avoid even the appearance of conflicts of interest by never performing official acts or otherwise engaging in financial transactions with the school system which could benefit me, accepting gifts of substantial economic value which could be viewed as improper influence or disclosing or using confidential information acquired in the course of my official duties for personal gain.