ELEMENTARY ETHICS DILEMMAS SCENARIO 1: Andrea Miles is the GT teacher at Meridian Elementary school. As part of her duties, she is to screen, identify, and assess students who exhibit characteristics of gifted and talented students. The GT program in her school district is well known for being rigorous and enriching for students, and many times families will move into the district in hopes of getting their child identified for the program. Ms. Meridian recently found out that her close friend’s niece, Stefanie, has enrolled at her school. Stefanie was identified as GT in her previous district, but - because GT identification has different criteria for each school district in the state - being GT in one school district does not always mean a student will be GT in a new school district. Meridian ISD has very rigorous criteria for the GT program, and oftentimes students who were GT in a previous district will no longer qualify for the GT program once they move to Meridian. Unfortunately, this was the case for Stefanie. Her test scores, at the 95th percentile, were just shy of the qualifying 97th percentile score, set by district policy. Admission into the GT program requires a committee of at least 3 GT certified teachers as per the state plan. The committee has the authority to qualify students whose scores, like Stefanie’s, are close to qualifying on the basis of a “preponderance of evidence.” The last couple of students with almost qualifying scores that were brought to the committee, in hopes of a “yes” decision based on the “preponderance of evidence,” were not admitted into the program. Because Stefanie was related to her good friend, and because she truly felt that she was a great candidate for the program, Ms. Miles did not want risk her not being admitted. In preparing the paperwork for the committee admission meeting, Ms. Miles changed Stefanie’s score from a 95th to a 97th percentile. With the information Ms. Miles provided, the committee admitted Stefanie into the program as it appeared she met the Meridian school district requirements. Questions: 1. Identify the behaviors that you believe violate standards in the Educator Code of Ethics. 2. Which standards do you think were violated? Explain your reasoning. 3. What different choices or actions could Ms. Miles have made in order to act in accordance with the code of ethics? SCENARIO 2: Mr. Armstrong is a 3rd grade Language Arts teacher at Cold Creek Elementary. He shares students with his teaching partner, Mrs. Long, who teaches Math, Science and Social Studies. These two teachers have been teaching partners for several years, and have shared personal information with each other as it pertains to their work and home life. Recently, Mrs. Long confided in Mr. Armstrong about difficulties she is having with medication she takes for anxiety, and she let him know that she would be missing school to go to a doctor’s appointment for help with the issue. While Mrs. Long was out for her appointment, Mr. Armstrong told the substitute, who is also a parent of a student who attends Cold Creek Elementary, that Mrs. Long would probably be needing her several more times in the upcoming weeks, saying specifically that she would be visiting the doctor until she gets her anxiety controlled by her medications. Mr. Armstrong’s purpose in speaking to the substitute was only to secure her for upcoming days because he prefers to have consistency for the students. Questions: 1. Identify the behaviors that you believe violate standards in the Educator Code of Ethics. 2. Which standards do you think were violated? Explain your reasoning. 3. What different choices or actions could Mr. Armstrong have made to act in accordance with the code of ethics? SCENARIO 3: Ms. Olsen and Mr. Parker both teach physical education at Putnam Grove Elementary school, and have after assessing the need for their students to have more opportunities for physical activity - decided to start an after school run club. The afterschool clubs and programs at PGE are typically very popular with the students, so Ms. Olsen and Mr. Parker have decided to cap run club membership at 100 students for the first year, until they can determine how many more students they can safely accommodate in the program. This will depend on parent volunteers, the number of students who attend regularly, and the behavior of students while they are participating. When they announce the run club and begin taking applications, they are excited to find out that over 200 students are interested in participating, which means they will need to set the criteria for choosing which students will be admitted. The criteria they choose include: 1. Did the student submit the application by the specified deadline? 2. Parents or guardians must sign a letter acknowledging that they are able to come pick their child up when they stay after school on run club days. 3. Students must not have any office referrals for behavior. 4. Is the child a sibling of another student that has been accepted into the run club? In speaking to their colleagues, they are aware of certain families who sign their children up for these afterschool programs, but often fail to pick them up on time on meeting days. Before they begin the selection process, they have already determined a list of students who will not get in to the run club, even if they meet all of the above criteria, due to a history of late pick-ups by the parents. Mr. Parker notices that most of the students being excluded qualify for free or reduced lunch (the low SES category), but he doesn’t mention this because he does not want to get stuck waiting at the school when parents don’t show up on time. Ms. Olsen accepts a few late applications because they are students who are good friends with her daughter, and she wanted them to be able to participate together. Finally, a student with autism, who is an avid runner, was denied entry because he is known to have behavior issues (though he does not have office referrals since his behavior issues are addressed through his IEP). Mr. Parker and Ms. Olsen are the only ones who were present during the selection process, so no one knows why any of the students were not admitted, only that they had to cap the membership at 100. Questions: 1. Identify the behaviors (if any) that you believe violate standards in the Educator Code of Ethics. 2. Which standards do you think were violated? Explain your reasoning. If you feel that no standards were violated, explain your reasoning. 3. Should Mr. Parker and/or Ms. Olsen have handled this situation differently so as not to violate the Code of Ethics, or (if you feel that there was no violation) to avoid their actions being called into question? Explain. SCENARIO 4: Mrs. Nelson is a 5th grade teacher at Xander Elementary School. Mrs. Nelson is very tech-savvy and uses many forms of social media to communicate with her parents and students. At the beginning of the year she asks parents to follow her on a communication app, Remind, so that they can receive important text reminders about upcoming events. Remind is typically used for group communication. For example, Mrs. Nelson might send out a reminder to the class that they have a field trip and will need to remember to bring their lunch. After receiving a group text, parents then have the option to respond individually to Mrs. Nelson and they can then carry on a conversation in a private environment if they need to discuss more student-specific information. Many of her students have their own cell phones and have also begun following Mrs. Nelson on the Remind app. While Mrs. Nelson does not encourage this, she doesn’t remove them when they do. It has never been an issue in the past, and she assumes it might help them to know about upcoming and important events too. Mrs. Nelson is a very loved and respected teacher, and she is known for providing a very safe and nurturing environment in her classroom. Whenever a student is struggling with an issue, he or she knows that Mrs. Nelson will listen and support them. Because of the precarious nature of 5th grade, students often come to Mrs. Nelson with all kinds of problems. After sending out a Remind text about the upcoming early dismissal day, a student, Maddie, responded with a private message to Mrs. Nelson telling her that she needed to talk to her about a problem. Mrs. Nelson tells her to come to her first thing in the morning, so they can talk before class begins. The next morning, Maddie shows up early to class as instructed and tells Mrs. Nelson that she thinks something is wrong with her because she doesn’t like boys the way her friends do, but she really doesn’t want to be gay. She is afraid of what her parents and friends would say if she never likes boys the way she thinks she is supposed to. Though she was a little taken aback by this confession, Mrs. Nelson assures her that she will be ok, and that it is ok that she doesn’t have the answers to those questions right now. Thinking about it later that evening, Mrs. Nelson was concerned that she hadn’t been supportive enough in talking with Maddie, so she sends her a private Remind text saying, “I want you to know that you are a very smart and beautiful young lady, and that won’t change if you like boys or girls. I won’t say anything to anyone about our conversation.” Questions: 1. Identify the behaviors (if any) that you believe violate standards in the Educator Code of Ethics. 2. Which standards do you think were violated? Explain your reasoning. If you feel that no standards were violated, explain your reasoning. 3. Should Mrs. Nelson have handled this situation differently so as not to violate the Code of Ethics, or (if you feel that there was no violation) to avoid her actions being called into question?
