The San Diego Board of Education and Superintendent Cindy Marten have until Aug. 19 to response to concerns about trustee ethics raised by the San Diego County Grand Jury.
The grand jury issued a report just before the Memorial Day weekend saying the board’s code of conduct, conflict of interest policy and governance manual “are not sufficient to prevent trustees from exerting undue influence in matters involving a particular school within their district.”
The report said two staff members were removed from a school where a trustee’s child was a student, in spite of the fact that they performed well in their positions. Neither the trustee or the school were identified.
However, last year parents of students at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts accused Trustee Marne Foster of using her influence to transfer a popular principal.
The grand jury made the following recommendations:
- Create a stand-alone code of conduct and conflict of interest statement for trustees
- Require trustees to sign a formal declaration acknowledging their understanding of these rules
- Implement a mandatory annual training program for all trustees regarding ethics
- Implement a mandatory in-service program for school staff, administrators and faculty to include the roles and responsibilities of staff when interfacing with trustees
- Establish the position of ombudsman for employees to contact without fear of reprisal
- Establish an independent ethics review panel
Ursula Kroemer, chief public information officer for the San Diego Unified School District, said Thursday that officials are reviewing the findings and recommendations.
“We will be providing a detailed response to the grand jury as requested by the August due date,” she said. “Preliminarily, we do not anticipate changes as our governance policies already call for personnel decisions to be made by the administration, not the school board.”
Under California law, the school board and superintendent must either accept the grand jury’s recommendations, or within 90 days explain why they cannot be implemented.
