File: BCA
Board Member Code of Conduct
Members of the Board of Education recognize that as elected officials, they are held to the highest
level of public trust. Within this public trust is the implicit expectation by the patrons of the District
that each Member of the Board will commit to and adhere to a Code of Conduct appropriate for the
Board of Education while fulfilling the obligations and duties of their office.
It is the intent of this policy to identify those elements that define a Code of Conduct appropriate
for the Morgan County Re-3 School District Board of Education
The Members of the Board of Education will:
• Be motivated only by a genuine desire to strive for the highest quality of education possible
for all children of the District.
• Recognize the integrity of previous boards and the merit of their work.
• Make every attempt to attend all Board meetings.
• Do all homework before each Board meeting.
• Listen to and respect the opinions of other board members.
• Base all decisions on the available facts, and refuse to surrender their own individual
judgment to other persons or special interest groups.
• Take no individual action that will compromise the school system, the Board, or the
administration, and avoid being placed in a position of conflict of interest.
• Not undermine the authority of the superintendent or intrude into the sphere of
responsibility that properly belongs to the school administration.
• Recognize that authority rests with the Board in legal session and not with individual
members of the Board except as authorized by law and the Board.
• Respect the confidentiality of information that is privileged.
• Abide by the majority decisions of the Board and fully support the process and respect the
decisions of the Board.
• Endeavor to keep abreast of current educational issues within the District, throughout the
State, and across the Nation.
• Make no effort to secure a school position within the District for a member of the immediate
family.
Morgan County School District Re-3, Fort Morgan, Colorado Page 1 of 2
File: BCA
Furthermore, The Colorado Legislature has identified three "ethical principles" for elected officials as
found in the Colorado Revised Statutes 24-18-105, that while they do not constitute violations as
such of the public trust of office, are by this policy, included in this District's Code of Conduct.
1. A board member "should not acquire or hold an interest in any business or undertaking
which he has reason to believe may be directly and substantially affected to its economic
benefit by official action to be taken by an agency over which he has substantive authority."
2. A board member "should not, within six months following the termination of his office...,
obtain employment in which he will take direct advantage, unavailable to others, of matters
with which he was directly involved during his term of [office]. These matters include rules,
other than rules of general application, which he actively helped to formulate and
applications, claims or contested cases in the consideration of which he was an active
participant."
3. A board member "should not perform an official act directly and substantially affecting a
business or other undertaking to its economic detriment when he has a substantial financial
interest in a competing firm or undertaking."
Adopted June 23, 1980
Revised November, 1995; December, 1996
Morgan County School District Re-3, Fort Morgan, Colorado Page 2 of 2