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The Need to Anticipate Perceptions When Dealing with Nepotism Issues
Friday, July 16th, 2010
Robert Wechsler
Here's an interesting modern spin on an old-fashioned nepotism/conflict
of interest matter. According to an article
in Tuesday's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the husband of a member of
a charter school's board was hired to teach at the charter school, and
there is disagreement over whether there is a conflict or not.
One twist is that the charter school's board does not have the power to hire or fire teachers at the school. Ordinary public schools don't have their own boards, so such a problem wouldn't occur.
The power to hire is held by the Waukesha School Board. But the charter school board does control funds, and there is a reasonable perception by the public that a member of a school's board has some say in who is hired at that school, even if it lacks the actual power to make the final decision.
Another twist is that the charter school board member is also the city administrator. In other words, she is seen to have power in the community beyond her role as a charter school board member.
The final twist is that the school board's ethics code is all of one month old. This means not only is this the first case, but that the city administrator would likely be aware that this matter would receive extra attention. The code is so new, it's not available online yet.
But apparently the nepotism policy does not directly apply. According to the article, "The policy identifies nepotism or conflicts of interest in employment circumstances where a person has the power to hire, promote, assign work tasks, discipline and evaluate performance."
On this basis, the school district's head of human resources thinks there is no conflict, but the chair of the school board's human resources committee thinks that there is a conflict, because the charter school board controls the school's money, and because of the perception of a conflict.
But what is the best solution? To reject the appointment of the husband or, as the school board member has suggested, to have the wife resign?
An important question is whether the wife participated in any way, directly or indirectly, in the hiring of her husband, by recommending him or anything. If she did, then her failure to recuse herself and not participate would require the rejection of the husband's appointment, no matter how qualified he may be for the position.
But a possibly more important question is, will the public believe that she had nothing to do with her husband's hiring? Will they not wonder why she didn't resign in advance, since it would not be right for her to sit on a board overseeing a school where her husband taught, whatever the nepotism policy might say?
Resigning now would be a good solution, but would it be adequate to ensure the public trust that the school board's hiring practices are fair, without preferential treatment? This case shows how important it is to anticipate perceptions and publicly recuse yourself and, in this case, offer to resign from the board if your spouse is hired. If you wait too long, the situation becomes more difficult to solve.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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One twist is that the charter school's board does not have the power to hire or fire teachers at the school. Ordinary public schools don't have their own boards, so such a problem wouldn't occur.
The power to hire is held by the Waukesha School Board. But the charter school board does control funds, and there is a reasonable perception by the public that a member of a school's board has some say in who is hired at that school, even if it lacks the actual power to make the final decision.
Another twist is that the charter school board member is also the city administrator. In other words, she is seen to have power in the community beyond her role as a charter school board member.
The final twist is that the school board's ethics code is all of one month old. This means not only is this the first case, but that the city administrator would likely be aware that this matter would receive extra attention. The code is so new, it's not available online yet.
But apparently the nepotism policy does not directly apply. According to the article, "The policy identifies nepotism or conflicts of interest in employment circumstances where a person has the power to hire, promote, assign work tasks, discipline and evaluate performance."
On this basis, the school district's head of human resources thinks there is no conflict, but the chair of the school board's human resources committee thinks that there is a conflict, because the charter school board controls the school's money, and because of the perception of a conflict.
But what is the best solution? To reject the appointment of the husband or, as the school board member has suggested, to have the wife resign?
An important question is whether the wife participated in any way, directly or indirectly, in the hiring of her husband, by recommending him or anything. If she did, then her failure to recuse herself and not participate would require the rejection of the husband's appointment, no matter how qualified he may be for the position.
But a possibly more important question is, will the public believe that she had nothing to do with her husband's hiring? Will they not wonder why she didn't resign in advance, since it would not be right for her to sit on a board overseeing a school where her husband taught, whatever the nepotism policy might say?
Resigning now would be a good solution, but would it be adequate to ensure the public trust that the school board's hiring practices are fair, without preferential treatment? This case shows how important it is to anticipate perceptions and publicly recuse yourself and, in this case, offer to resign from the board if your spouse is hired. If you wait too long, the situation becomes more difficult to solve.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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