By Kathy A. Ahearn
Special to The Record
Published Monday December 7, 2009

Serving on a school board is hard work. Every day board members are faced with tough decisions that shape our children’s future. With school budgets stretched thin, often times the decisions that need to be made are not popular. With schools under more scrutiny than ever before, board members should do everything they can to protect their reputation — and the reputation of the board on which they serve. Once a reputation is damaged, it is difficult to repair. When the public loses confidence in a school board, there are costly consequences for the district. Budgets are rejected, elections are lost, and restoring confidence takes time

The quickest way to ruin a reputation is through ethical lapses. While following ethics rules might seem like common sense, well intentioned board members can still run afoul of ethical guidelines. To protect themselves, board members should periodically review the Code of Ethics their district has, as well as familiarize themselves with other ethical guidelines that govern their work. These guidelines allow board members to focus on their real work and serve as a shield from false allegations of wrongdoing. An unintentional and seemingly minor ethical mistake can take a lot of time and substantial resources away from the work board members are tasked with.

School boards members should also embrace what is referred to as duty of care. Simply put, school board members need to do their jobs and act in good faith. This means regularly attending board and committee meetings; reading, reviewing and inquiring about items such as board minutes, annual reports, and fiscal reports; and exercising a fiduciary responsibility over the district’s assets, finances and budget.

It goes without saying that most board members take this responsibility seriously, however there have been times when this has not been the case. In fact, entire boards can be dismissed if they fail to exercise duty of care. At Adelphi University the board did not exercise these duties and the Board of Regents removed the entire board. While the University has made great strides and rebuilt its reputation, it was a difficult road for them.

Another area that presents potential pitfalls is gifts. School board members are prohibited from soliciting or accepting any gift worth more than $75, where it could reasonably be inferred that the gift was intended to influence or reward official action. This prohibition applies even if there is no actual intent to influence them, but it merely appears like the gift was intended as a reward. A simple rule to live by is, if it would appear bad to others, don’t take the gift, even if you know there is no impropriety involved. Our schools districts are facing tough times, and those elected to guide them do not have an easy road ahead. Following ethical guidelines will give the public the confidence to know that they have the right people in place to make these decisions.

Kathy A. Ahearn is a partner in the law firm of Guercio & Guercio, which is opening an office in Latham in January.


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