Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

In 2015, the superintendent of the Jackson County School District revised the existing nepotism policy, and, subsequently, his wife was hired to a newly created position of director of innovation at a salary nearly twice the average paid to teachers in the district. Because of community reaction, the Jackson County School Board met in special session to address the situation. This case, presented in three sequential parts, raises a number of questions: When does nepotism exist? What constitutes unethical behavior on the part of a school district leader? How should a school superintendent react when confronted by alleged misconduct? How should a school board proceed when faced with community outrage? How can a school board regain public trust? This case can be useful in graduate courses to generate discussion of ethical behavior and the consequences of unethical behavior in educational leadership and administration.

Keywords

ethics educational administration boards of education administrator behavior personnel policy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bellow

(2003). In praise of nepotism: A natural history. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Canaday

Duke

(1991). School policy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (October 13, 1978, Pub L. No 95-454, 92 Stat. 1111).

Darioly

Riggio

(2014). Nepotism in the hiring of leaders: Is there a stigmatization of relatives? Swiss Journal of Psychology, 73, 243-248.

Jones

(2012). Nepotism in organizations. New York, NY: Routledge.

Jones

Stout

(2015). Policing nepotism and cronyism without losing the value of social connection. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8, 2-12.

National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2015). Professional standards for educational leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author.

Palmer

Fleig-Palmer

(2015). Integrating trustworthiness for a more nuanced understanding of nepotism and cronyism. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8, 22-27.

Pearce

(2015). Cronyism and nepotism are bad for everyone: The research evidence. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8, 41-44.

10.

Reed

(1988). Anti-nepotism rules and dual career couples: Policy questions for public personnel administrators. Public Personnel Management, 17, 223-230.

11.

Riggio

Saggi

(2015). If we do our job correctly, nobody gets hurt by nepotism. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8, 19-21.

12.

Scott

(2010, November 6). Rights you don’t have: Freedom from nepotism [Video file]. Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOXTv9HXwBE

13.

Ujifusa

(2012, August 22). Ohio superintendent resigns after ethics probe: IG cites chief’s support of testing program while pursuing ETS job. Education Week, p. 4.

14.

U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). The federal role in education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html

15.

Wallace v. Department of Commerce, 106 M.S.P.R. 23, §2. (2007).

16.

Wong

Kleiner

(1994). Nepotism. Work Study, 43(5), 10-12.

Nepotism and the Jackson County School Board

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References