Marion County Schools
Bylaws & Policies
 

4113 - CONFLICT OF INTEREST - PRIVATE PRACTICE
 A.The proper performance of school business is dependent upon the maintenance of unquestionably high standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality, and professional conduct by Board of Education's employees. Further, such characteristics are essential to the Board's commitment to earn and keep the public's confidence in the School District. For these reasons, the Board adopts the following guidelines 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 service employees.
  1.No service 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.
  2.Service 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 relationship they may have with any student, client, or parents of such students or clients in the course of their employment with the Board.
  3.No service employee shall be or become pecuniarily interested, directly or indirectly, in the proceeds of any contract with the School District, or in providing goods or services to the District for compensation, if s/he has voice, influence, or control over the decision by the School District to contract or acquire the goods or services.
  4.No service employee having any official action to perform in connection with bids, contracts, purchases, claims or other pecuniary transactions shall solicit, accept, or agree to accept any gift or gratuity from any person known by the employee to be interested in any such bid, contract, claim, purchase or transaction.
  5.Every service employee is prohibited from using his/her position of employment for his/her own private gain or that of another person.
  6.No service employee may solicit any gift unless the solicitation is for a charitable purpose with no resulting direct pecuniary benefit conferred upon the employee or his/her immediate family. Even then, a service employee is prohibited from soliciting a charitable gift from any school district official or employee whose position is subordinate to the soliciting employee.
  7.No service employee may knowingly and improperly disclose any confidential information acquired in the course of his/her duties nor use such information to further his/her personal interests or the interests of another person.
  8.No service employee may solicit private business from a subordinate employee whom s/he has the authority to direct, supervise or control, except when the solicitation is a) a general solicitation directed to the public at large through the mailing or other means of distribution of a letter, pamphlet, handbill, circular or other written or printed media; or b) limited to the posting of a notice in a communal work area; or c) for the sale of property of a kind that the person is not regularly engaged in selling; or d) made at the location of a private business owned or operated by the service employee to which the subordinate public official or public employee has come on his/her own initiative.
  9.A service employee may use frequent flyer bonus points earned while traveling on official School District business only if his/her participation in the frequent flyer program results in no additional cost to the School District

By way of illustration rather than limitation, this policy forbids the following:

   a.the provision to the School District's students of any private lessons or services for a fee, provided, however, that tutorial services may be furnished to a student off of school premises by appropriate personnel at a fee negotiated between the student, the student's parent or guardian, and the service employee, with prior approval of the Superintendent;
   b.the use, sale, or improper divulging of any privileged information about a student or client gained in the course of the service employee's employment or 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 a service 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
  10;Service 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.
  11.A full-time service employee who exercises authority or control over a public contract between a vendor and the School District, or whose subordinate exercises such authority or control, is prohibited from seeking employment by the vendor or to purchase, sell, or lease real or personal property to or from the vendor. Nor shall s/he have an agreement with the vendor concerning future employment.
   By way of illustration, a service employee or subordinate is considered to exercise authority or control over a public contract by any of the following acts: drafting bid specifications or requests for proposals; recommending selection of the vendor; conducting inspections or investigations; approving the method or manner of payment to the vendor; providing legal or technical guidance on the formation, implementation, or execution of the contract; or taking other nonministerial action that may affect the financial interests of the vendor.


A person adversely affected by the restriction on purchasing personal property may make such a purchase only if the West Virginia Ethics Commission expressly approves, or if acting in good faith reliance upon a West Virginia Ethics Commission guideline, advisory opinion, or official policy.

 B.Any exceptions to this policy shall be approved by the Superintendent before entering into any private relationship.

WV Code 6B-2-5
WV. Code 61-5A-6
WV Code 61-10-15

Adopted 4/21/09