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Educational Foundations | Fall 15
Ethical Dilemma Assignment
1.
Identify the ethical dilemma that the teacher must resolve.
The district superintendent is visiting the school and passes you in the hall. When he
passes you he says, “Man, I wish I would have had a teacher like you when I was in
school! Maybe I would have paid more attention!” and winked. This is not the first time this has
happened to you, and before you’ve either laughed it off or ignored him. You are very
uncomfortable with his comments but not sure if you can do anything about it since you haven’t
mentioned it to anyone before. Also, you are afraid to report for fear of losing your job. Should
the teacher report this behavior? Why or why not? If she does report the behavior, will her job
be protected? Why or why not?
2.
Specify the specific standard(s) in the Texas Code of Ethics to which this dilemma relates
(you can find it HERE or navigate the TEA website for the TX Code of Ethics (link); How does
it address the Code of Ethics adopted by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1975
(link)?
In both the Texas Code of Ethics and the NEA Code of Ethics, sexual harassment
between professional colleagues is not explicitly mentioned. However, Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, sex, race, religion, etc. by an
employer, and Title IX of the Educational Amendment Act of 1972 prohibits discrimination on
the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. Sexual harassment is a
form of gender discrimination and violates basic civil rights. (EEOC, 2010)
In Texas Administrative Code Rule §247.1, Purpose and Scope; Definitions:
-(b), “The Texas educator, in maintaining the dignity of the profession, shall respect and obey the
law, demonstrate personal integrity, and exemplify honesty and good moral character. The Texas
educator, in exemplifying ethical relations with colleagues, shall extend just and equitable
treatment to all members of the profession.”
-(e)(9) Good moral character--The virtues of a person as evidenced by patterns of personal,
academic, and occupational behaviors that, in the judgment of the State Board for Educator
Certification, indicate honesty, accountability, trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Lack of
good moral character may be evidenced by the commission of crimes relating directly to the
duties and responsibilities of the education profession as described in §249.16(b) of this title
(relating to Eligibility of Persons with Criminal Convictions for a Certificate under Texas
Occupations Code, Chapter 53), or by the commission of acts involving moral turpitude, but
conduct that evidences a lack of good moral character is not necessarily limited to such crimes or
acts. (Tex. Admin. Code, 2011)
In Texas Administrative Code Rule §247.2, the Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for
Texas Educators:
-(G) Standard 1.7. The educator shall comply with state regulations, written local school board
policies, and other state and federal laws.
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-(D) Standard 2.4. The educator shall not interfere with a colleague's exercise of political,
professional, or citizenship rights and responsibilities.
-(E) Standard 2.5. The educator shall not discriminate against or coerce a colleague on the basis
of race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, disability, family status, or sexual
orientation. (Tex. Admin. Code, 2010)
I did not find any applicable standards in the NEA Code of Ethics; they exclude
Commitment to Professional Colleagues and discrimination in general!
3.
Identify the ethically relevant issue(s) to which the ethical dilemma relates (for ex.
religion in school, student’s rights, etc.).
The ethically relevant issues to which the dilemma relates are basic civil rights and
discrimination.
4.
Identify all persons or groups that need to be considered.
The teacher, superintendent, principal, and district need to be considered.
5.
Identify what information – or additional information – you need to be fully informed.
I need to know how many times and where the superintendent has made comments like
that to the teacher, if she has kept records of the comments, if anyone else heard them, and if the
teacher wants to move forward with the formal complaint process.
6.
Develop several (at least 2) possible courses of action or alternatives.
1) Directly, yet tactfully, confront the superintendent and make it clear that his comments
are unprofessional, unwelcome and will not be tolerated.
2) Use the chain of command at the school/district to resolve it informally.
3) File a formal grievance with the school board.
4) Keep ignoring it and avoid him.
7.
For each alternative, identify the following:
All of these consequences are purely hypothetical and have only some basis in reality. I am a
Victim’s Advocate for sexual assault and harassment in the Navy, so these reactions are what I
have read about or seen in action. There are hundreds of ways a harasser and a victim can react
in these situations, especially taking into account individual personalities, work
environment/climate, potential disciplinary actions, and colleague and supervisor reactions.
●
Short-term consequences:
1) The superintendent may recoil from the confrontation, become embarrassed and
apologize. Or on the other end of the spectrum, he might take offense and retort with
another unprofessional remark or retaliation.
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2) People will find out. More female educators could speak out against him now that
someone has taken the first step in going “public” at school, the teacher could be
ostracized for complaining, or the principal could try and squash it.
3) By skipping the immediate chain of command at the school, not everyone would be privy
to the information if the teacher wanted the case kept quiet.
4) The teacher could feel helpless, victimized, and unsafe at work.
●
On-going consequences:
1) Hopefully she will garner more respect from the superintendent by standing up for
herself, but he could put a target on her back and subject her to more scrutiny from the
administration.
2) If other faculty and staff have found out and are sympathetic, they could help by talking
with her and voicing their support. However, if it is the other way around, they could
make her life a living hell at the school by ignoring her and/or gossiping. The principal
could talk to the superintendent and ask him to apologize or get him to promise it will not
happen again effectively ending the harassment.
3) She may be pulled from the school and placed on administrative leave while the
investigation takes place, or she could not see any consequences from the investigation
and keep on teaching.
4) He will probably keep making sexual remarks to her and could eventually act on them.
●
Long-term consequences:
1) She never has to deal with his sexual harassment again or she loses her job due to some
“other” infraction.
2) The harassment does not get resolved and now everyone knows, the superintendent ends
his behavior, or he resigns.
3) He is found at fault and is forced to retire, resign, quit, etc. The investigation goes
nowhere and the teacher resigns and moves districts to get away.
4) The teacher becomes so emotionally distressed over the harassment that she performs
poorly as a teacher or quits. The harassment just keeps going and the superintendent
could plague more female teachers.
If it turns out that the teacher is fired and she proceeds to court, the district could be held
liable!
●
Psychological costs:
1) Both parties might become embarrassed by the confrontation, but if both people are
professional and respectful, it ends there and spares more psychological damage to the
teacher and further embarrassment to the superintendent.
2) Depends on how co-workers treat the situation, but the teacher could be fully supported
or not. Trust and credibility are at stake here.
3) The teacher and the superintendent could be scared for their jobs and could develop
mistrust for the system put in place to protect them.
4) Same as the long-term consequences, extreme emotional distress for the teacher if she
ignores the situation and it worsens.
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●
Social costs:
1) The superintendent could target her job and find some way to dismiss her or he could
gain some serious respect for her and steer clear. The superintendent’s job/family life
could be at stake if people find out about his behavior.
2) Like I mentioned previously, colleagues and supervisors could make or break the case by
supporting her or turning their backs to it.
3) Same as above.
4) In an extreme case, the teacher could turn inward and begin to shut out family and friends
or she could quit her job and alienate herself from her old friends at work.
●
Economic costs:
The teacher and superintendent’s pay could be affected if their job is lost or they are
transferred, or the district could have to spend money to hire a substitute or replace the
superintendent. Not to mention the litigation costs imposed on the individuals and district.
8.
Name any Supreme Court cases and their rulings and/or legal terms that might apply to
the given situation.
These cases relate to the dilemma IF THE TEACHER GETS FIRED AND IT WERE TO
GO TO COURT. The teacher cannot file a lawsuit if there is no actionable discrimination or
tangible retaliation against her. She can try and hold the district accountable in court if she is
fired, but she cannot sue the superintendent just because he made some inappropriate remarks
towards her. I could not find any case law about employee-employee harassment culminating in
termination under Title XI.
In Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the Supreme Court for the first time recognizes that
sexual harassment is a violation of Title VII. The Court in formulating its opinion favorably cites
EEOC's policy guidance on sexual harassment. (EEOC, 2010)
The Supreme Court, in Faragher v. City of Boca Raton and Burlington Industries, Inc. v.
Ellerth, (Oyez, 2015) spells out the circumstances in which employers will be held liable for acts
of sexual harassment carried out by their supervisory personnel. The Court rules that employers
are liable when the sexual harassment has culminated in a tangible employment action directed
against the harassed employee (i.e., employee is terminated or demoted after rejecting a
supervisor's sexual advance). The Court further rules that employers are permitted to establish an
affirmative defense to the claim, if it can show no tangible action was taken against the harassed
employee and two additional elements: (1) the employer had communicated and established an
effective procedure for employees to seek redress from sexual harassment; and (2) the harassed
employee failed to take advantage of this procedure. If an employer can show all of these
elements, then it will not be held responsible for the sexual harassment by its supervisory
personnel. (EEOC 2010)
Tangible retaliation: something that happened to the teacher after she filed a grievance or
complained about the superintendent (i.e. dismissal, demotion, extra duty).
Actionable discrimination: discrimination that can be proved. (FindLaw, 2008)
9.
Take action. Identify what action you would take.
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I would take action #1, tactfully confront the superintendent with another teacher and
stand up for myself. Since the scenario said I was very uncomfortable with his comments, I
would let him know straight away. In my opinion, dealing with a harasser right away and face to
face is the first step to ending the unwanted behavior. Letting the inappropriateness of the
situation fester and boil is the wrong way to handle it and could lead to rumors and more
harassment.
10.
Evaluate the action of the decision you have made and identify how it conforms to the
Texas Code of Ethics.
The Texas Code of Ethics does not explicitly mention sexual harassment between
professional colleagues, but it does say, “the educator shall comply with state regulations, written
local school board policies, and other state and federal laws.” (standard 1.7) “The educator shall
not interfere with a colleague's exercise of political, professional, or citizenship rights and
responsibilities”, (standard 2.4) and “the educator shall not discriminate against or coerce a
colleague on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, disability, family
status, or sexual orientation.” (standard 2.5) (Tex. Admin. Code, 2010)
11.
Make a commitment statement that identifies how you will assume responsibility for the
consequences of the action you have decided to take.
I affirm my commitment to the education of my students and ethical treatment of all persons I
come into contact with. I will follow all federal, state, and local laws in how to deal with
unethical behavior. I will not make false accusations against any person. I will respect my
professional colleagues by trying to resolve issues at the lowest level first.
12.
List what might be or could be the negative consequences of your action (if applicable).
A negative consequence of my action could be that my plan backfires and blows up in my
face! The superintendent could say that he was just kidding and that I need to lighten up. He
could tell my principal that I need to be watched closely because I like to make false accusations
or he could completely brush me off and keep making the remarks.
If the superintendent does not stop the harassment after I asked him to, I would take the
next step by informing my principal. If it does not stop after that, then I would file a formal
grievance and fully cooperate with the investigation that proceeds. I would only take it to court if
the district tried to push it under the rug or the superintendent was not cooperating.
It all depends on how the superintendent handles the criticism. The teacher should not
report the behavior if he reacts well, is apologetic and ends the harassment. She should definitely
go through the correct channels to try and resolve it informally before filing a formal grievance
and taking it to the school board.
13.
Develop a plan about how you will correct any negative consequences or wrong decision
you may make.
Sexual harassment and (therefore) discrimination on the basis of sex or gender is against
the law. I don’t think I made the wrong decision since he was clearly in the wrong, and federal
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law protects me if I am fired because I blew the whistle. I would try my best to be respectful and
tactful when confronting the superintendent so he could not fire back and say I was
insubordinate. I would also have a colleague with me when I confront him so that I have back up
and another ear. I would need to keep thorough records of our encounters and/or hire a lawyer if
need be. If confronting him were the wrong way to go about it, then I would bring my principal
into it.
Title IX’s legal manual goes into a ton of detail about student-student and employeestudent sexual harassment, there is not much for employee-employee. It seems to me that
educators (employees) are better covered under Title VII even though “the principal objective of
Title IX is to avoid the use of federal money to support sex discrimination in education programs
and to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices.” (US DOJ, 2001)
In a nutshell, the teacher needs to deal with the superintendent right away, face to face. If
he does not stop, she needs to move forward with a formal grievance process. Her job would be
protected under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Texas’ fair employment
laws since retaliation is unlawful. “Retaliation occurs when an employer, employment agency, or
labor organization takes an adverse action against a covered individual because he or she
engaged in a protected activity.” (EEOC, 2010) If she is fired, she needs to be able to prove
actionable discrimination or tangible retaliation due to her filing against a supervisor. (EEOC,
2010)
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References
Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1997/97-569
Faragher v. City of Boca Raton. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1997/97-282
FindLaw (2008). Discrimination by Supervisors: Is It Actionable? Retrieved from
http://corporate.findlaw.com/litigation-disputes/discrimination-by-supervisors-is-it-actionable.html
National Education Association (2009). Code of ethics. Retrieved from
http://www.nea.org/home/30442.htm
Texas Administrative Code. (2010). Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educators.
Retrieved from
http://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc
=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=7&ch=247&rl=2
Texas Administrative Code. (2011). Purpose and Scope; Definitions. Retrieved from
http://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc
=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=7&ch=247&rl=1
U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (2001). Title IX Legal Manual. Retrieved from
http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2010/12/14/ixlegal.pdf
U.S. Equal Emloyment Opportunity Commission (2010). Selected Supreme Court Decisions.
Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/thelaw/supreme_court.html
U.S. Equal Emloyment Opportunity Commission (2010). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm