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On Thursday, March 25, TCTA attended a stakeholders’ meeting at the Texas Education Agency to discuss potential revisions to the Educators’ Code of Ethics. The proposed revisions are being made as part of a routine rule review process that all administrative regulations must undergo.
However, some of the proposed changes deal with substantive ethical issues that confront educators today, such as communication with students through electronic media, text messaging and social networking sites.
Others regulate the type of information that must be disclosed to prospective employers about an educator’s employment background, criminal history and disciplinary actions.
Although Thursday’s meeting represents a very early step in the rule revision process, TCTA is concerned about the prospect of making substantive changes to the Code of Ethics, which was subjected to a vigorous and thorough revision process in 2002.
At that time, a committee was created to discuss the impact of proposed changes and the final product was submitted to a vote by the education community, which approved the changes by a substantial majority.
We are not sure if there is a compelling need to revise the Code of Ethics at this time or what the impetus of the revisions would be.
TCTA believes that ethical standards should reflect the values of the education community and should be subject to careful scrutiny prior to their inclusion in an enforceable body of law.
We will therefore continue to work with TEA staff as the rule review process progresses to ensure that the changes, if any, serve to enhance the existing Code of Ethics and provide clear and reasonable guidelines about expected standards of conduct.
Posted: 03/30/10
