We Now Have an Ethics Officer

In response to a recent audit the District has appointed an Ethics Officer, Mr. Treat. This is a new position. The District did not have an Ethics Officer before.

Now that there is an Ethics Officer, people can use Board Procedure F11.01, including this part:

C. Investigation of Alleged Violations

1. Any person may submit a written complaint to the Ethics Officer specifying one or more violations of these Guidelines. Complaints should be signed by the person or persons submitting them, but unsigned complaints will be accepted. If requested, complainant’s privacy will be observed where possible.

2. The Ethics Officer (or his or her appointee) shall be authorized to do any or all of the following: interview the complainant; provide an overview of the complaint to the subject of the complaint; interview and obtain a statement of facts from the subject of the complaint; identify and gather relevant documents; and identify other persons who might have relevant knowledge of the alleged violation.

Upon completion of the foregoing, the Ethics Officer shall prepare a Preliminary Report containing the results of the investigation and a recommendation as to discipline. The final decision with respect to discipline shall be handled like any other disciplinary matter, including the right to a meeting if discipline is proposed.

3. Any employee found to have violated any provision of these Guidelines may be subject to progressive disciplinary action.

So maybe there's somebody out there who wants to submit a written complaint about an apparent ethics violation. Maybe somebody out there knows of a District employee who violated the Ethics Policy F11.00. I'm thinking of a violation such as

It is the policy of the Seattle School Board that no school district employee may have an interest, financial or otherwise, or engage in a business or transaction or incur an obligation of any nature, that is in conflict with the proper discharge of the school district employee’s official duties.

or this part of the Ethics procedure:

District employees who participate in the acquisition of particular goods and services by the District shall not receive compensation for personal services rendered to or for any person or firm seeking to or providing those particular goods or services during the term of their District employment, unless information about the services and compensation is disclosed in writing to the Superintendent's designee and approved in writing by him or her beforehand.

Just in case anyone is considering submitting a complaint about the superintendent's undisclosed role with NWEA at the time of the MAP purchase, I would like to remind that person that when the superintendent disclosed all of her positions with non-profits, she neglected to include her seat on the Board of the Alliance for Education. The Alliance, as we all know, has a lot of financial dealings with the District and, so far as I know, the superintendent is STILL on their board. So is the President of the School Board. Hmmm. Could that be another ethics violation?

I don't know. It isn't up to me to make that determination. It's up to the Ethics Officer to decide that. But, in the absence of a complaint, the Ethics Officer might not act on it.