The council commits itself and its members to ethical, businesslike, and lawful conduct, including proper use of authority and appropriate decorum when acting as council members.
Accordingly,
1. Members must represent un-conflicted loyalty to the interests of the ownership. This accountability supersedes the personal interest of any council member as a consumer of the organization’s services.
2. Members must avoid conflict of interest with respect to fiduciary responsibility.
a. There must be no self-dealing or any conduct of private business or personal services between any council member and the organization except as procedurally controlled to assure openness, competitive opportunity, and equal access to inside information.
b. When the council is to decide upon an issue about which a member has an unavoidable conflict of interest, that member shall absent herself or himself without comment from not only the vote but also from the deliberation.
c. Council members must not use their positions to obtain employment for themselves, family members, or close associates. Should a member desire employment, he or she must first resign.
d. Members will annually disclose their involvements with other organizations, with vendors, or any other associations that might produce a conflict.
3. Council members may not attempt to exercise individual authority over the organization except as explicitly set forth in council policies.
a. Member’s interaction with the Principal or with staff must recognize the lack of authority vested in individuals except when explicitly authorized by the council.
b. Members’ interaction with the public, press, or other entities must recognize the same limitation and inability of any council member to speak for the council except to repeat explicitly stated council decisions.
c. Members will give no voice to individual judgments of Principal or staff performance. (Remember that the council evaluates only the Principal and does so as a group against an agreed upon set of standards, which are spelled out along with the job description.) Members who are also parents will address their individual concerns through proper channels as stated in the Parent / Student Handbook.
4. Members will respect the confidentiality appropriate to issues of a sensitive nature.