of Ethics Online Collection:None
NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION CODE OF ETHICS
Whereas the role and mission of the State Department of Education being “the general supervision and control of public education in this state" (NJSA 18A:4-10), each staff member shall be expected to perform his assigned duties with the highest regard for the ethical and moral standards of his profession, craft, or trade, in a manner that shall enhance the image and stature of himself, and the State Department of Education.
In accordance with the “New Jersey Conflict of Interest Law" (NJSA 52:13D-12 et seq.), a Code of Ethics is hereby promulgated to govern and guide the conduct of state officers and employees in the Department of Education:
1. No state officer or employee should have any interest, financial or otherwise, direct or indirect, or engage in any business or transaction or professional activity, which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties in the public interest.
2. No state officer or employee should engage in any particular business, professional trade or occupation which is subject to licensing or regulation by a specific agency of state government without properly filing notice of such activity through the Commissioner of Education, with the Executive Commission on Ethical Standards.
3. No state officer or employee should use or attempt to use his official position to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages for himself or others.
4. No state officer or employee should act in his official capacity in any matter wherein he has a direct or indirect personal financial interest that might reasonably be expected to impair his objectivity or independence of judgment.
5. No state officer or employee should undertake any employment or service, whether compensated or not, which might reasonably be expected to impair his objectivity and independence of judgment in the exercise of his official duties.
6. No state officer or employee should accept any gift, favor, service or other thing of value under circumstances from which it might be reasonably inferred: that such gift, service or other thing of value was given or offered for the purpose of influencing him in the discharge of his official duties.
7. No state officer or employee should knowingly act in any way that might reasonably be expected to create an impression of suspicion among the public having knowledge of his acts that he may be engaged in conduct violative of his trust as a state officer or employee.
8. The State Department of Education recognizes that under our democratic form of government public officials and employees should be drawn from all of our society, the citizens who serve in government cannot and should not be expected to be without any personal interest in the decisions and policies of government; that citizens who are government officials and employees have a right to private interest of a personal, financial, and economic nature; that standards of conduct should separate those conflicts of interest which are unavoidable in a free society from those conflicts of interest which are substantial and material, or which bring government into disrepute. While public employees have a legitimate right to private financial interest, including secondary employment, such interests must not constitute an actual or perceived conflict with the discharge of his or her official duties, occur at a time the employee is expected to perform his or her assigned duties, or diminish the employee’s efficiency in performing his or her primary work obligation to the state. The secondary employment standards specified in Attachment #1 are hereby incorporated into this Code of Ethics. Further, all employees are expected to recognize the following basic tenets as being in harmony with the philosophy and policies of the State Department of Education.
9. All employees, in the course of their dealings with the public, and with other employees, should transact those dealings in a fair and impartial manner, free from prejudice.
10. All employees should refrain from the performance of any action the direct result of which may conflict with the interest of the State Department of Education.
11. All employees are expected, while avoiding the prohibitions listed in paragraphs one through eight, ante, to additionally exercise care in mannerisms and deed to avoid conduct which is in violation of their public trust or which creates a justifiable impression among the public that such trust is being violated. The “New Jersey Conflict of Interest Law” provides that violations of this Code of Ethics shall be cause for removal, suspension, demotion, or other disciplinary action by the state officer or agency having the designated power for such action.
Reissued 11/88
jrp:1/9007
