About the Ethics Office

Purpose and Overview

The SDUSD Board of Education unanimously adopted our Ethics Code in 2006. The action stemmed from the external auditor’s recommendation that having an ethics code is good business practice in this post-Enron era. Ethics is a high-profile topic in the corporate world. And those of us in the public sector are well aware that the public’s trust has been shaken by examples of unethical behavior by some public servants nationwide.

The Ethics Code is designed to help cultivate trust by describing what we can expect from each other and what the public can expect from us. We all come to work with our personal code of ethics. But in our workplace, as in any organization, our behavior is influenced by group norms. The tone is set from the top, and our success in improving student performance depends on honoring, respecting, empowering, and treating fairly every employee who helps make those crucial student gains happen.

Our Ethics Office is about promoting those positive behavioral norms. We are not the ethics police. Rather, our role is one of employee support—to help raise ethical awareness, familiarize all employees with the Ethics Code, and coordinate an ethics training program. (See also "Why Ethics?")

Our training workshops, which we will roll out in the months to come, will not only clarify laws, regulations, and procedures but will foster dialogue to help us all navigate gray areas and work through ethical dilemmas.

Ethics in SDUSD is not a stand-alone initiative. By building an ethical culture—one marked by trust, caring, commitment, and teamwork—we create not only a great place to work but also the necessary context for high performance. Given that, the Ethics Office works collaboratively with the leadership initiative as well as with the legal, human resources, and communications offices, among others, to help us live up to our high calling and to accomplish some of the world’s most important work—the education of our children.

Copyright © 2007, San Diego Unified School District Ethics Office

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