Ethics panel looks at gifts to teachers

The Louisiana Board of Ethics started grappling Friday with questions surrounding what’s acceptable and what’s not when it comes to gifts and other rewards to teachers and school administrators.

State law generally bans the receipt of anything of economic value for the performance of public jobs, other than salary and benefits derived from that job. There are exceptions for limited food and drink and receipt of promotional items of token value.

St. Tammany Parish School Superintendent W.L. “Trey” Folse III raised 11 “what-if” scenarios as he sought an Ethics Board opinion on what meets the ethics law test.

The board decided to wait until January to take the issues up so members could study the issues raised in the context of the law.

“I don’t want to be the Grinch who stole Christmas,” said Ethics Board Chairman Blake Monrose, of Lafayette.

Monrose and other board members said they needed time to look at the questions posed, noting that many people would rely on whatever advice is provided.

The board also wanted to review a report prepared by ethics agency staff that outlined how the laws of other states treat similar situations in case it wants to propose legislation for consideration when the Louisiana Legislature opens its 2013 session April 8.

In his letter to the Ethics Board, Folse said questions have arisen as a result of required annual training of teachers, principals and other public school employees in state ethics laws.

“Your guidance and responses to the questions ... would ensure that the St. Tammany Parish School System is on the right track in ensuring that its employees are properly following the Code of Governmental Ethics,” Folse wrote.

Folse questions ranged from receipt of gifts from a variety of sources to holiday swapping of gifts among teachers and administrators, solicitation of businesses for special discounts for system employees and free use of condominiums under certain circumstances.

Specific questions included:

• Can a teacher receive gifts from students, parents, administrators and-or the Parent Teacher Association during Teacher’s Appreciation Week, on special occasions or during the holidays?
• Can a school or PTA provide breakfast or lunch to employees on special occasions or during the holidays?
• Can an employee accept the free use of a condominium for a trip from parents, administrators or other employees?
• Can Teachers of the Year and Principals of the Year receive gifts from students, parents, employees or the PTA for their achievements?

Ethics lawyer Michael Dupre said questions are routinely asked about gifts when ethics trainers go to teachers conferences. “There’s nothing out there formally,” Dupre said.

Ethics administrator Kathleen Allen said the law has been interpreted by the board in prior opinion requests when issues have been raised.

“This is going to be an in-depth discussion once everybody’s had the opportunity to review,” Monrose said. “It’s something we all really need to study in-depth. We do have a lot of questions to answer here.”

Comments

1) Comment by Iamhopeful2 - 24/12/2012

Seriously? I would say a much more seriously questioned "gift" would be like the one Supt. White and his friend Carolyn Roemer Shirley of LAPACS are giving Lycee Francais Charter to keep them from bringing anymore attention or embarrassment to certain members of BESE who cater to the Lycee Board. And does it make any difference that Ms. Shirley is Chas Roemer's sister and prevented by ethics law from participating in discussion with him regarding activities of her organization that benefits from action by BESE? But he can participate with White as his liaison? How about the gifting of iPads to all principals a few years back by former Superintendent Gayle Sloan -but no cookies to teachers? How about the cash solicited from principals to gift to Supt. Sloan when she "retired" from St. Tammany to go supplement her retirement benefits by working or LDOE at $130,000 yr. -but teachers can't even substitute after they retire now. How much sense does it make to prevent a teacher from allowing a fellow teacher friend from using her timeshare ? Can't a sensible person see the difference between that and a parent doing the same for her child's teacher? How about all the private funding and donations to charter schools that have few restrictions on spending and extraordinarily high pay for their administrators? How does their autonomy exclude them from the same ethics rules for all other public schools? Now we are getting somewhere. Maybe there should be a study - but be careful what you wish for.

2) Comment by KilgoreTrout - 23/12/2012

Won't need an ethics panel when schools are privatized, right? See articles on Louisiana Voice site : "Dave ‘Lefty’ Lefkowith more than a motivational speaker" and "DOE, John White are masters at obfuscation". I seriously hope there is a difference between Louisiana conservatism and gullibility.

3) Comment by Whatnow - 23/12/2012

It was a public school. Sorry.

4) Comment by Scrooge - 23/12/2012

How much does a passing grade, a football team or cheer leading spot cost in private schools? Doesn't privatization make everything better or at least for the highest bidder? See, private schools don't have any pesky big government ethics boards interfering with free enterprise. That limited government stuff really works just need to be born rich.

5) Comment by cbelse1 - 23/12/2012

If the Ethics Board wants to do a favor for education in Louisiana, they should take another look at the fact that our BESE President Elect is the brother of the Executive Director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools. Or take another look at the fact that another BESE member still holds a leadership position in Teach For America. If people think we are in this for free apples and cookies, think again. Maybe the Ethics Board could also draft a statement that educators could recite whenever a student brings us a trinket or a baked good. While I agree that situations like the one mentioned below with the condo do happen, they are far far more likely to happen in private schools, in which case the Ethics Board really can't do much about it (Not saying it never happens...). If we want to police ethics with public officials, we need to start with those at the top, and we need to make sure that rules are enforced across the board. Does everyone remember about a year ago when lawmakers got first dibs on purchasing Nat'l Championship tickets? The argument was that they still had to pay for them, so it wasn't unethical-- however, there still were legislators who took advantage of the deal and then gifted those tickets to constituents, donors, etc. If the Ethics Board wants to police gifts to teachers, then they should also collectively grow a pair and police those who hold lawmaking/policy-making positions in this state.

6) Comment by twinkie1cat - 22/12/2012

This is not something that needs to be discussed by the Ethics Board at this time. There is nothing wrong with teachers receiving gifts of appreciation, particularly there is nothing wrong with awarding them for doing a superior job. We certainly are not getting anything but hate and harrassment from the state as Dictator Jindal tries to find every way he can to underpay us by saying that the school systems can set teacher pay and trying to take our job security (the only real reward we get) and forcing us to do test training instead of providing education. Plus the systems pay Teach for America to fill our positions with cheaper not-teachers so they won't have to deal with real ones who know what they are doing and are willing to sit the principal down because we have tenure. Any gift a student, parent or PTA provides us, including good meals and anything else that makes us feel appreciated is appreciated. Even more appreciated would be hordes of parents down at the Capitol and writing their representatives telling them to rescind the teacher abuse and voucher laws passed last year and demanding that the budget be unfrozen and teachers, real certified teachers, be given substantial raises. We are already ethical. We are professionals, not Murphy Painter and certainly not Bobby Jindal.

7) Comment by Bouncer - 22/12/2012

I have taught for the better part of 3 decades, and there have been plenty of occasions when at the end of a semester, a student would give me a little memento to say "Thanks" for teaching him/her. Interestingly, to a person, each of these students was already an outstanding student with very good grades, so their gesture was sincere, not calculated to receive brownie points. Do some teachers accept gifts intended to sway their decision at grade time? Yes, some do. Do all of them fall for this bribery? No, not all, but some do. If blatant impropriety exists and can be proven, then deal with it on a case by case basis and do not nitpick over each and every little token a teacher accepts from a student. I personally am not going to hurt one of my student's feelings by rejecting a little gift and saying, "I'm sorry, but the Ethics Board says I can't take this."

8) Comment by tradewinns - 22/12/2012

regardless of La. law, tipping cash is unethical for any "professional" occupation. teachers want to say they are professionals but they seem to want to have all the wrappings of blue collar workers. a kid giving a teacher an apple, cookies or a trinket for christmas as a sign of caring or respect is fine, anyone that would shortchange a kid's educational abilities for a token gift isn't worth their salt. with all the problems in education, i do not believe that this is one of the top five problems in our educational system. stop stalling and concentrate on the number one problem in education, useless parents!

9) Comment by Whatnow - 22/12/2012

I know for a fact that a teacher/cheer sponsor received a stay at a parent's condo in Destin. She told me about it herself. Needless to say, the daughter sucked at cheering, big time, but made the squad.

10) Comment by phil - 22/12/2012

I think this is important and needs to be looked into. However, let's not start fining our young students (or the teachers) for placing that apple on the teacher's desk.

11) Comment by crabby - 22/12/2012

I suppose they have to look at teachers, if they focused on the Governor's office, Boobie would have them all removed from the board. Ethics in Louisiana . . . that's hilarious.

12) Comment by Burl - 22/12/2012

Great job Ethics Board!! The taxpayers are really getting their money's worth from you all. How is it that these are such perplexing questions but when people who disagree with Piyush suddenly find themselves unemployed, you guys just shrug it off? The Advocate needs to look into how many La. congressman and women have children in private schools versus public schools. I believe the ratio is significantly skewed toward the private side. That would be a very revealing statistic.

13) Comment by Bouncer - 22/12/2012

spqr....I'm not particularly religious, but you get an enthusiastic "Amen!" for your post. The K-12 teachers that I know don't tool around town in foreign cars and wear Rolexes. No, they're too busy figuring out how to keep their clunkers running and trying to find a battery for their Timex at WalMart.

14) Comment by spqr - 22/12/2012

LawyerDan lives in a world of gated communities and country clubs. Public school students and condos?!?!? Are you serious? LawyerDan, go meet your six-figure friends at the club for lunch and bring your golf clubs. Teachers do not live in your world and their students can hardly afford a school lunch.

15) Comment by cbou30 - 22/12/2012

Why are we waisting limited state tax payer money to investigate teacher ethics when they are already underpaid and under appreciated. If for some reason a child gets one good grade due to buttering up their teacher I can assure you it will catch up sooner or later and weed them out. Can't we find something better to do with the ethics board like investigating what politicians and their friends are getting fat on the new state hospital plan? Unbelievable!!!

16) Comment by LawyerDan65 - 22/12/2012

While everyone believes cookies or a plat at Christmas is the proverbial "apple for the teacher", but what about the use of a condo worth hundreds of $$....that is what creates an appearance of improprietyconsidering that the students grade suddenly improve...

17) Comment by Traveler - 22/12/2012

At least twice in the recent past, the nationally-broadcast "Today" show (NBC) has presented segments in which they suggest that parents give "tips" to teachers at the holiday season. Both times, I have sent e-mails to NBC, informing them of the Louisiana law (and suggesting that they have their own legal department verify my information). While "an apple for the teacher" may be in the spirit of the season, the letter of the law is quite clear. Teachers neither need nor want "tips" (earlier this month, the show suggested a figure in the range of $25--$100)----professional service providers (including physicians and attorneys) are not "tipped." I do know some teachers who solve the "holiday gift issue" by telling parents that a gift for the class is appropriate----art supplies, books, motivational posters from a school-supply store, plants, etc.

18) Comment by cbelse1 - 22/12/2012

Just when we thought that educators had nothing left to be taken from them. . . Now, Little Suzie may not be able to make cookies for her favorite teachers. . .