LOS
ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
EMPLOYEE CODE OF ETHICS
As employees of the Los
Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), our mission
is to educate all students to their maximum
potential. Our success depends on our teamwork,
trust and commitment. Our Code of Ethics is
intended to help us achieve success by setting common
expectations and increasing trust, commitment and
teamwork within the District, and between the
District and the community.
Core Principles
To help us achieve our
mission, we are committed to three core ethical
principles:
-
Commitment to Excellence
-
District and Personal
Integrity
-
Responsibility
Purpose
Our Code of Ethics
helps develop trust by describing what the public can
expect from us, and what we can expect from each
other and our District. It plays a central role in
our District’s commitment to help District
personnel achieve the highest ethical standards in
their professional activities and relationships. Our
goal is to create a culture that fosters trust,
commitment to excellence and responsibility, personal
and institutional integrity, and avoids conflicts of
interest and appearances of impropriety.
Application and
Enforceability
The Code of Ethics
applies to all District personnel including Board
Members. Provisions of this Employee Code of
Ethics are supported by State law, and District
Board and Personnel Commission Rules, regulations,
bulletins and collective bargaining agreements.
Violations of this Code of Ethics may result
in administrative or disciplinary action under those
laws, rules, regulations, bulletins and agreements.
Making Ethical
Decisions
While the Code of
Ethics provides general guidance, it does not
provide a complete listing or a definitive answer to
every possible ethical situation. When making
decisions, we should use good judgment to fulfill the
spirit as well as the letter of the Code. The References
section of the Code lists other documents such as
laws, rules, policies and bulletins that provide more
detailed guidance. When making decisions:
Evaluate the situation and identify the ethical issues.
-
Follow the rules
. Consult the Code of Ethics,
law, and District rules, regulations, bulletins,
policies and procedures, and apply them to the
situation.
-
Ask for guidance from your supervisor. If your
supervisor is involved in the problem, contact
his or her supervisor, or the Ethics Office for
help. Ask for help early—before you
act.
-
Make and carry out a
decision that is
consistent with the rules and develops
excellence, integrity and responsibility.
Contacting the Ethics
Office
For advice, help,
training, copies of ethics publications, or more
information on the ethics program visit our website
or contact us directly.
Commitments and
Expectations
To achieve our mission
of educating students, we strive to create a District
culture that fosters trust and focuses on excellence.
Our goal is to develop a culture that is personally
fulfilling, supports ethical decision-making, and
provides an environment where hard work, creativity
and innovation are the norm. To succeed, we must have
the same expectations about how we will practice our commitment
to excellence, integrity and responsibility
in our everyday work.
A. Commitment to Excellence
We are
committed to being the best school district and
personnel we can be, educating our students to
their maximum potential. Everything we do has an
impact on the classroom.
1. Set the example. We are committed to providing
the best example we can, striving to
demonstrate excellence, integrity and
responsibility in our work.
2. Create an environment of trust, respect and
non-discrimination. We are committed
to creating an environment of trust, care and
respect. We will not tolerate discriminatory
or harassing behavior of students or
colleagues.
3. Provide honest,
accurate and timely information. We are committed to candor in
our work relationships, providing other
District personnel including supervisors,
senior staff and Board members with accurate,
reliable and timely information. We
will not tolerate falsification or cheating.
4. Identify problems and help create solutions.
We are committed to identifying areas for
improvement within our District, and
suggesting and implementing solutions that
make us more successful.
5. Keep policies, procedures and rules. Our
rules, policies and procedures are the
foundation of trust and how our District
conducts everyday business. They define our
expectations and evaluation criteria. We
are committed to following our Code of
Ethics, laws, and District rules,
regulations, bulletins, policies and
procedures, recommending changes required to
make them better, and will not tolerate
improper conduct.
6.
Report improper
conduct. When
someone does well, it reflects well on all of
us. When we make a mistake, we strive to
correct it and learn from it. We are
committed to reporting gross mismanagement,
significant waste of funds, abuse of
authority, threats to safety, violations of
our Code of Ethics, laws, rules, regulations,
bulletins, policies and procedures, or other
conduct that damages our integrity or
reputation, to our supervisor, the Ethics
Officer or the Inspector General. (For
more detailed information, see the Reference
section)
7.
Keep colleagues safe
from retaliation. We
are committed to creating a work environment
where problems can be reported and solved. We
are prohibited from threatening, harassing,
punishing or retaliating against employees
who make good faith complaints. (For more
detailed information, see the Reference
section)
B.
District and Personal
Integrity. To
maintain our integrity, we are committed to
making decisions in the best interests of the
District. We will avoid conflicts of interest and
the appearance of impropriety.
A conflict of interest can exist
anytime our position or decisions provide us
a financial benefit or improper advantage. We
are permitted to receive outside income as
long as it does not create a conflict with
our District work. We are committed to
declining outside income that might be
perceived as inconsistent, incompatible or in
conflict with our official duties. We will
not make decisions or use our position for
personal benefit or to gain an improper
advantage. (For more detailed
information, see the Reference section)
9. Decline gifts. A gift is a benefit we receive for
which we did not pay. Gifts can include
merchandise, food, tickets, use of
facilities, investments, rebates or discounts
not offered to the public, or forgiveness of
debt from vendors, lobbyists, parents,
students or others. We will not accept
gifts or gratuities in excess of $100 from a
single source in a single year (aggregate
retail value) or that give the appearance
that the gift improperly influenced our
decisions regardless of the amount. We will
not solicit vendors, lobbyists, parents or
others for anything that provides us a
personal benefit different from the public.
(For more detailed information, see the
Reference section)
10. Improper influence of family members
and associates. We
are committed to abstaining from decisions
that could result in a direct benefit to a
close relative or co-habitant including, but
not limited to, hiring, promotion,
discipline, evaluation or direct supervision.
(For more detailed information, see the
Reference section)
We
are committed to ensuring that
employee-student relationships are positive,
professional and non-exploitative. We
will not tolerate improper employee-student
relationships. (For more detailed
information, see the Reference section)
To
reinforce public trust and confidence in our
procurement processes, we are committed to
ensuring that procurement information is kept
confidential, used only in the performance of
our duties, and not released early to
potential contractors. (For more detailed
information, see the Reference section)
We
are committed to making contract award
recommendations in the best interest of the
District. From the time an RFP, specification
or other contract document is issued until
the staff recommendation is made public (the
contract’s board report is published by
the Board Secretariat), we will not have
contact concerning the contract with
contractors participating in the process or
their representatives. (For more detailed
information, see the Reference section)
14. Future employment. In order to prevent conflicts of
interest, District personnel are not
permitted to discuss the possibility of
future employment with a person or
organization that might benefit from their
official decisions. Contractors are required
by the District to disclose all personnel,
consultants and sub-contractors who were
employees of the District in the previous
three years. The District will not contract
with a contractor who compensates a former
District employee to influence an action on a
matter pending with the District if that
employee, within the last twelve (12) months,
held a District position in which the
employee personally and substantially
participated in that matter. The District
will not contract with a contractor that
employs a former District employee who, while
serving in a District position within the
last two years, substantially participated in
the development of the contract’s RFP,
requirements, specifications or in any other
part of the contracting process. No former
District official is permitted to lobby the
District for one year after leaving the
District. We are committed to avoiding
discussions about future employment with
people or organizations who can benefit from
our decisions, and will not take or influence
official actions that might benefit that
person or organization. (For more
detailed information, see the Reference
section)
15.
Uphold District interests in hiring
and promotion. We
are committed to hiring and promoting
District personnel based on their
qualifications and the job-criteria of the
position, and will not tolerate improper
practices. (For more detailed
information, see the Reference section)
C.
Responsibility. We are committed to holding each
other responsible for our performance as a
District and as individuals.
16. Proper use of public position. We are committed to ensuring
that our power and authority are used in an
appropriate, positive manner that enhances
the public interest and trust. We will not
use our authority to improperly influence
people or obtain preferential treatment.
17. Proper use of public resources. Except for occasional and
limited personal use that does not interfere
with performance of duties or create an
appearance of impropriety, we are committed
to ensuring that District facilities,
equipment, supplies, mailing lists or other
District resources are used for District
purposes only. Except for occasional and
limited personal use, we will not tolerate
improper use of public resources, and will
report and reimburse the District for
significant costs of any limited personal use.
18. Leadership of District personnel and
use of District time.
We are committed to ensuring that District
personnel are tasked to perform only District
work on District working-time. We will not
direct or permit District personnel to
perform personal services on District working
time and will report such incidents to our
supervisor, Ethics Officer or Inspector
General.
19. Uphold confidentiality. To achieve excellence, our
District employees, parents and students must
be able to discuss issues frankly, and when
appropriate, in confidence. We are
committed to abiding by all laws and District
policies concerning confidential information,
including student records, personnel files,
agreements, and District records and
policies. We will not reveal
confidential information, including meeting
content and the sources of comments, from
staff, faculty, parent and closed Board of
Education meetings. (For more detailed
information, see the Reference section)
20. Waivers.
The LAUSD General Superintendent or his/her
designee upon a showing of good cause may
waive an ethics prohibition in writing with
notification to the Board of Education.
References
These references are
intended to provide additional, though not
necessarily comprehensive, guidance for professional
situations. These references are updated
periodically. The most recent updates are available
on the Ethics Office website (www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/offices/ethics)
1.
Report improper
conduct.
2.
Keep colleagues safe
from retaliation.
3.
Conflicts of
interest and outside income.
4.
Decline gifts.
5.
Improper influence of family members and associates.
6.
Maintain appropriate
relationships with students.
7.
Keep procurement information
confidential.
8.
Keep the contracting process
objective.
9.
Future employment.
10. Uphold District interests in hiring
and promotion.
11. Uphold confidentiality.
COMMITMENT
TO OUR LAUSD CODE OF ETHICS
As an employee of the Los
Angeles Unified School District, I am an important
part of a team whose mission is to educate all
students to their maximum potential. My success and
the success of our District depend on the teamwork,
trust and commitment I demonstrate everyday in my
work.
I am committed to demonstrating and helping the
District achieve the highest ethical standards
including:
-
A commitment to
excellence as we strive to become the
best school district and employees we can be
Employee Signature:4
_________________________________
Name:4
_________________________________
Date:4
_________________________________
I have reviewed the Code of
Ethics with the above named employee and provided a
copy of the code to him or her.
Supervisor Signature:4
_________________________________
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