EDLD+5342+Week+5+Part+1-3

Educators, including the Superintendent must be examples of ethical behavior in everything they do. This includes the development of programs that are good for students and their total development, the ethical behavior in the area of personnel, and ethical stewardship of district finances. etc.” and “the educator shall comply with state regs, written policies, and other state and federal laws. One example of a violation of this kind would be when a district employee uses a district credit card to buy personal items. As was the case several years ago with a Dallas ISD superintendent who bought personal furniture, it is a violation of district policy, the law, and ethics. Consequences: Investigation, termination, destruction of ones career are all possibilities. Prevention: Put in place stringent procedures for use of credit cards or eliminate them entirely.
 * Example 1: Standard 1.3 ** states that “The educators shall not submit fraudulent request for reimbursement, expenses, or pay.” A somewhat tricky example of a violation would be a situation in which a large group of administrators and educators from a district registered for and traveled to a national educators conference. Registration fees and hotel costs were handled up front. At the conference a sizeable number of the attendees never attended a single session at the conference, enjoyed the tourist sites, etc. yet turned in records for reimbursement for their time at the conference. This behavior violates that standard, in spirit at the very least. Consequence: The educators, if caught, could face written reprimand or other discipline based on the severity of the incidents. Prevention: Put procedures in place in the district for providing proof of conference and session attendance throughout the chosen conferences.
 * Example 2: Standard 1.2 ** states that the “educator shall not knowingly misappropriate, divert, or use monies, personnel, property, or equipment committed to his or her charge for personal gain or advantage”. I am aware of two incidents that are examples of violating this standard. One is when a principal was apparently in the habit of accepting checks from entities like the school photographer or book fair company, on behalf of the school, but instead of allowing the campus secretary to deposit and account for the money, he would take them to the bank and “cash them”, never making the deposit. A similar incident happened involving another school activity account where money was taken in by the school in connection with certain projects like the school yearbook, but not accounted for properly and cash came up missing or checks were not deposited, but instead cashed. In both cases the principals were disciplined or removed from their position and procedures were tightened for collection and deposition of money across all campuses in the district. Consequences: The principal, or other district personnel, who violate this standard could be investigated, put on leave, or terminated, as was the case in the above example. Prevention: Establishment of procedures that demand daily deposit of funds, limited access to checks and cash by a limited number of personnel, and improving accounting procedures.
 * Example 3: 1.1 and 1.7 **state that the “educator shall not intentionally, knowingly ,or recklessly engage in deceptive practices regarding official policies of the school, district,


 * Example 4: Standard 2.3 ** states that the “educator shall adhere to written local school board policies and state and federal laws regarding the hiring, evaluation and dismissal of personnel.” An example of a violation would be when a superintendent does not follow the procedure for job postings and hires the “chosen one” that was “predetermined”, without following procedures for posting, interviewing candidates, etc. Consequence: This could result in grievances being filed, loss of trust within the district, and in possibly not getting the best candidate. Prevention: Separate, clearly define roles of each office and allow the HR department or applicable division to follow procedures for posting and hiring.


 * Example 5: Standard 2.6 ** states “the educator shall not use coercive means or promise of special treatment in order to influence professional decisions or colleagues”. An example of this would be when a superior tells a principal to hire a certain person for a position and promises they will be considered for a future promotion in return. Consequence: Not hiring the best, losing trust in the organization and building a poor climate, grievances or complaints being filed. Prevention: Follow approved, written procedures for all hiring.

Reflection: The superintendent is responsible for the care of an entire district, for posterity. They must live with the decisions they make for kids, staff, and the financial health of the district. They must live with what they pass down to the future. Ethical leadership is essential

Part 2-


 * The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application. **

The superintendent knows how to:

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">__C___ apply procedures for effective budget planning and management.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">__C___ work collaboratively with board of trustees and appropriate personnel to develop district budgets.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">__C___ facilitate and evaluate effective account auditing and monitoring that complies with legal requirements and local district policy.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">__C___ establish district procedures for accurate, effective, ethical purchasing and financial record keeping and reporting.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">__C___ acquire, allocate, and manage resources according to district vision and priorities, including obtaining and using funding from various sources.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">__C___ use district and staff evaluation data for personnel policy development and decision making.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">__S___ apply knowledge associated with personnel management, including requirements related to certifying, recruiting, screening, selecting, evaluating, disciplining, reassigning, and dismissing personnel.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">_ C___ manage one's own time and the time of others to enhance district operations.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">__C___ develop and implement plans for using technology and information systems to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of school district operations.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">__C___ apply legal concepts, regulations, and codes as required.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">_ C___ use revenue forecasting and enrollment forecasting to address personnel and budgetary needs accurately.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Self-Assessment Reflection: __**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Now that you have completed your post self-assessment, **__write a reflection discussing your strengths, areas where you consider yourself competent but not yet strength, and areas needing improvement.__** You may also want to use this assessment analysis in completing Part 3 Final Reflections for this course.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Self Assessment Reflection **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">: In no way, form, or fashion have I even begun to understand every detail I need to know about school finance. This class has been difficult because it lies in my area of weakness. I am an instructional leader, a professional development expert, and an inspirational servant leader. Examining the details of finance, summary of finance reports, etc. has had my head swimming. However, I have learned the basics. I am competent in every area and even more convinced that you must know a bit about everything, but can never know as much as you need to know. I am further convinced that you must hire those who compliment you. I rate the area of recruiting, screening, disciplining, evaluating personnel, etc. as a strength because I have been successful in raising expectations and holding people accountable on my campuses and can apply that to the next job. I can not rate myself as anything more than competent in any other area, but feel I have grown. I feel I am strongest in the areas of collaboration and managing time.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Part 3

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Final Reflection from EDLD 5342- As this class draws to a close, I am left with the understanding that you must surround yourself with people who complement your strengths and weaknesses. You must be able to trust those around you and hold them accountable for excellence. Finance will be the biggest area in which I have to use that philosophy. I found the lectures, videos, and transcripts to be informative, as always and particularly enjoyed hearing about the Economy of Scale and Differentiated Staffing. I may have been using different terms for them, but made an immediate connection in how I use paraprofessionals to organize and effective intervention system on my campus, one that has drawn much attention from visitors and much success. I honestly found it difficult and tedious to search for numbers and figures on the various reports that we had to analyze but it did give me insight into the scope of the finance issue. It was interesting to learn about the sources of revenue, WADA, and levels of expenditures in districts and how they compare. I learned that we have a very inequitable system that needs to be fixed and am left wondering if anyone has courage in this country anymore to really fix our problems. I am left wondering if politics will always cripple us and actually feel somewhat hopeless on many levels in relation to the issue of whether or not we will ever solve our problems. Finally, I attempted to learn how to work with a wiki group that is very far away from me. At first, I did not understand how in the world you could have people who are so far away from each other and in online classes truly collaborate as a group. Dealing with everyone’s personal and business schedules, and with the complexity of some of the assignments left me frustrated in the early weeks. However, once I got the hang of it, I did enjoy and come to value members of my group.