Ethics Office - San Diego Unified School District

1. Fairness, Dignity, & Respect

We will treat each other and members of the community fairly and with dignity and respect.

Overview
Examples
Resources

Overview
At SDUSD, our commitment to excellence implies a highly ethical culture—an environment that not only attends to compliance with laws and regulations but is fundamentally aspirational. We aim to create significant, positive good—specifically, improved student performance and preparation that will enable students to lead productive, fulfilling lives.

This first point in the Ethics Code goes to the heart of what an ethical culture is about: enacting key organizational values, which in turn reflect our own. Research by the Institute for Global Ethics finds that while people around the world use different words to describe their values, the core concepts universally boil down to compassion, fairness, honesty, respect, and responsibility. These resonate with people regardless of culture, religion, or national origin.

Examples
Fairness impels us to:

make decisions based on the merits of the issues;
apply policies consistently;
support merit-based processes for hiring and for contracts;
be impartial and not favor those who either have helped us or are in a position to do so;
promote equality and treat all people equitably;
excuse ourselves from decisions when our or our family’s financial interests may be affected by our SDUSD actions;
credit others’ contributions as we move forward toward our goals;
maintain consistent standards, but remain sensitive to the need for compromise.

Respect impels us to:

treat each other with courtesy, even when we disagree;
focus on the merits in discussions, not personality traits or other issues that might distract us from focusing on what is best for the community; gain value from diverse opinions and build consensus;
follow through on commitments, keep others informed, and make timely responses;
be approachable and open-minded, and convey this to others;
listen carefully and ask questions that add value to discussions;
involve all appropriate stakeholders in meetings affecting SDUSD decisions.

By treating each other with fairness and respect, we ensure each individual’s dignity.

Resources
The above was derived in part from “Doing the Right Thing: Putting Ethics Principles into Practice in Public Service,” Institute for Local Government, 2006. (pdf)

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