On Friday June 10th, I posted a story about a teacher with an ethical dilemma. After reading the post, the teacher asked me to delete it. "I understood. That is the challenge of writing a column about business culture. People who talk to me put their jobs at risk. That's a risk few can afford.
"The more I think of it, the more nervous I am getting. Can you please pull the piece."
So while the mainstream media debates the pros and cons of anonymous sources, I rely on them. Without anonymity people wouldn't tell their stories.
I believe the stories are important. Hopefully they can help us create a better corporate culture.
So here is the story. Names have been changed. Locations are changed and the amount in question has been changed. The ethics are the same.
Max is a principal in an inner city school system, managing a multi million dollar budget.
“They thing is,” Max says, “I can’t use that money. It’s only supposed to be used for kids who meet two criteria:
1. Academically at risk
2. Who come from high poverty communities
Max works in a high poverty community but Max is principal at a Magnet School for the academically gifted.
Max has been fighting with her administration all year who says its okay to” free” up those funds for other uses.
Max won’t do it. “They think I’m a tightwad.”
In a meeting this spring, Max’s superiors indicated that as long as they would include students who meet all criteria, it’s fine to use the funds for other activities.
Max isn’t so sure and recent events have raised multiple red flags. Last month the school system’s ethics department decided to visit one of Max’s colleagues. He refused to cooperate and was removed from his job.
He’s currently serving the teacher’s equivalent of detention. Max suspects the colleague will be encouraged to take early retirement.
“At first the rumor was that he was removed because he wouldn’t allow the ethics department to interview kids without a parent’s permission.”
Since then other rumors have been flying. The latest: “the colleague is being investigated for financial misconduct.”
Both have Max very concerned.
If the first rumor is true Max says she could be out of a job as well. “I don’t believe investigators from the ethics department should be talking to kids without a parent’s permission. I’m not sure what I would do if I were faced with that situation.”
The investigation into fiscal misconduct isn’t making Max feel any better.
“Everything we do with money is tracked by the school administration,” explained Max, “ so it would be really difficult to do anything illegal with one exception— misuse of Title One Funds.”
Max believes using the Title One Fund for any reason other than specifically stated by the Federal Government would place her at risk.
So Max has the summer to think about her budget and whether or not she will do as her superiors advise and use those Title One dollars for kids who are not academically at risk.
Max doesn’t want to quit her job. She won’t break the law. For Max, who has been working at the same school for nearly twenty years, the idea of leaving is unfathomable.
“I know it’s difficult for people in the corporate sector to understand my attachment to this school. It’s not a job to me. It’s my life. I’m wedded to this school. I have a huge attachment to these kids.”
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