Center Line Public School District
Bylaws & Policies
 

4110 - CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Staff members, officers, and agents shall perform their official duties in a manner free from conflict of interest. To this end:

 

A.

The maintenance of unusually high standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality, and professional conduct by School District’s Board members, employees, officers, and agents 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 which apply to all District employees, officers and agents, including members of the Board to assure that conflicts of interest do not occur. These guidelines are not intended to be all inclusive, nor to substitute for good judgment on the part of all employees, officers, and agents.

   
 

1.

No employee, officer, or agent shall engage in or have a financial or other 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. When a staff member determines that the possibility of a personal interest conflict exists, s/he should, prior to the matter being considered by the Board or administration, disclose his/her interest (such disclosure shall become a matter of record in the minutes of the Board).

   
 

2.

No staff member, officer, or agent shall use his/her position to benefit either himself/herself or any other individual or agency apart from the total interest of the School District.

   
 

3.

If the financial interest pertains to a proposed contract with the District, the following requirements must be met.

   
 

The staff member, officer, or agent shall disclose the direct financial interest in the contract to the Board with such disclosure made a part of the official Board minutes. If his/her direct financial interest amounts to $250 or more or five percent (5%) or more of the contract cost to the District, the staff member, officer, or agent shall make the disclosure in one (1) of two (2) ways:

   
 

a.

In writing, to the Board president at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting at which the vote on the contract will be taken. The disclosure shall be made public in the same manner as the Board's notices of its public meetings. (See Bylaw 0165.)

   
 

b.

By announcement at a meeting at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting at which a vote on the contract is to be taken. The staff member, officer, or agent must use this method of disclosure if his/her financial interest amounts to $5,000 or more.

   
 

4.

Employees, officers, and agents 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 or professional relationship with the School District.

   
 

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

   
 

a.

the provision of any private lessons or services for a fee

   
 

b.

the use, sale, or improper divulging of any privileged information about a student or client gained in the course of the employee's, officer’s, or agent’s employment or professional relationship with the District through his/her access to School District records

   
 

c.

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

   
 

d.

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

   
 

5.

Employees, officers, and agents 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.

   
 

B.

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

     
 

C.

Employees, officers, and agents can not participate in the selection, award, or administration of a contract supported by a Federal grant/award if s/he has a real or apparent conflict of interest. Such a conflict of interest would arise when the employee, officer, or agent, any member of his/her immediate family, his/her partner, or an organization which employs or is about to employ any of the parties described in this section, has a financial or other interest in or a tangible personal benefit from a firm considered for a contract.

   
 

Employees, officers, and agents shall not solicit or accept gratuities, favors, or anything of monetary value from contractors or parties to subcontracts involved with Federal grant funds. Employees, officers, and agents may, however, accept a gift of unsolicited items of "nominal value" from a contractor or party to subcontracts that do not involve Federal grant funds. For purposes of this section, "nominal value" means that the gift has a monetary value of $56 or less.

   
 

D.

To the extent that the District has a parent, affiliate or subsidiary organization that is not a State, local government or Indian tribe, the School District may not conduct a procurement action involving the parent, affiliate or subsidiary organization if the School District is unable, or appears to be unable, to be impartial.

   
 

E.

Employees, officers and agents must disclose any potential conflict of interest which may lead to a violation of this policy to the School District. Upon discovery of any potential conflict of interest, the School District will disclose, in writing, the potential conflict of interest to the appropriate Federal awarding agency or, if applicable, the pass-through entity.

   
 

The District will also disclose, in a timely manner, all violations of Federal criminal law involving fraud, bribery or gratuity that affect a Federal award to the appropriate Federal awarding agency or, if applicable, the pass-through entity.

     
 

F.

Employees, officers and agents found to be in violation of this conflict of interest policy will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination, as permitted by applicable Board policy.

2 C.F.R. 200.112, 200.113, 200.318
M.C.L. 380.634, 380.1805(1)

Revised 2/8/16
Revised 6/27/16

© Neola 2016