1130 - CONFLICT OF INTEREST - PRIVATE PRACTICE

Mt. Clemens Community Schools

Bylaws & Policies

1130 - CONFLICT OF INTEREST - PRIVATE PRACTICE

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.

	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.	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;
		3.	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;
		4.	the requirement of student 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.

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.

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 supervisor and will be disclosed to the Superintendent before entering into any private relationship.

It will be the responsibility for each administrator and supervisor to make this policy known to his/her subordinates, to enforce this policy, and to promptly report any apparent violations to the Superintendent.

Administrators shall not accept any money, goods, or services with a value in excess of the amount established annually by the State Department of Instruction ($44 within any one (1) month period as of December 31, 2004) from any person who does business or seeks to do business of any kind with the District.