1. Principles of Ethical Leadership for School Business Officials (SBO)
Christina berta, mba, sfo
Chief financial officer – chesterfield county public schools
SASBO/vasbo conference: spring 2019

2. Principles of Ethical Leadership for School Business Officials (SBO)
Overview
Principles and practices for success in your role.
Real-life dilemmas and appropriate responses.
Prepare you to handle unethical situations.

3. Organizational Ethics
Involves
Everyone
Yes…
Everyone involved in the school community

4. SBO’s Responsibilities
More than accurate accounting records
Protection of assets and investments
Resources for instructional programs and initiatives
Operational efficiencies in support areas

5. CCPS Professional Code of Ethics

6. CCPS Professional Code of Ethics
Employees shall:
Make the well-being of students the fundamental value of all decision-making and actions.
Support the civil and human rights of all individuals.
Maintain personal and professional behaviors that demonstrate positive role modeling for students, colleagues and the education profession.
Refrain from discourse and actions that undermine their own personal integrity and that of other employees, and that compromise the professional standards of the school division.
Fulfill job responsibilities with honesty and integrity.
Maintain the high standards of the school division and seek to improve effectiveness through continuous professional development.
Avoid using one’s position for personal gain through political, social, religious, economic, or other influence.
Honor all contracts with honesty and integrity until fulfillment or release.

7. ASBO Professional Standards and Code of Ethics
Published in 2005 and derived from highly trained and well recognized school business officials
ASBO-Professional-Standards.pdf
Many standards can easily be incorporated into local documents

8. Book used as a resource
The next section of this presentation draws from “Ethics for School Business Officials” written in 2005 by William T. Hartman and Jacquiline A. Stefkovich (Professors at Pennsylvania State University) in conjunction with ASBO.

9. Examining Personal and Professional Codes of Ethics
List personal goals and professional goals separately
Consider how you measure up
Reflect on how you can improve
Compare ASBO code of ethics to your professional code
Source: “Ethics for School Business Officials” William T. Hartman and Jacqueline A. Stefkovich

10. Identify Your Personal Code of Ethics
In an ethical situation, what comes to your mind first?
deciding what is fair to the majority
concern for individual rights
how your actions may impact others
use and abuse of power
the best interest of students
What incidents in your life have shaped your ethical perspective?
What moral principles guide your ethical decision making?

11. Identify Your Personal Code of Ethics (continued)
Examples may include:
Treat others the way you would like to be treated
Be loyal to family and friends
Be happy with what you have; don’t envy others
Be kind to elderly people
Deal honestly with others

12. Identify Your Professional Code of Ethics
Examples of a Professional Code of Ethics include:
Be loyal to employers
Treat others the way you would like to be treated
Deal honestly with others
Be straightforward
Always be courteous and kind
Act as a role model for others
Serve as a mentor for others
Balance time between, work, home, family, life!

13. Consider how you measure up
How do you measure up to your own standards?
Reflect on events that have shaped your career and reasons for your list of items.

14. Reflect on how you can improve
Conflicts exist – how do you handle them?
What factors control your decision making?
How do you “right the ship?”

15. Compare ASBO Code of Ethics to Your Own
Decide how important any differences are.
Example: Perhaps your individual code calls for loyalty to an employer; however, the employer expects behavior that conflicts with the ASBO code of ethics.
It is important to determine which lines can and cannot be crossed.

16. Headlines

17. Real World Example

18. Real World Example – What would you do?

19. Takeaways Be prepared for the unexpected
Develop personal and professional code of ethics
Courage to address issues that arise
Morals vs Ethics
“Your actions define your character, your words define your wisdom, but your treatment of others defines REAL you.”  ― Mayur Ramgir

20. Questions?

21. Principles of Ethical Leadership for School Business Officials (SBO)
Christina berta, mba, sfo
Chief financial officer – chesterfield county public schools
SASBO/vasbo conference: spring 2019