Guest David Hart Posted March 31, 2015 at 02:37 PM Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 at 02:37 PM The school board that I am a member of, is in the process of interviewing new candidates for the School Superintendent. One of the applicants, has a brother that is a board member. My questions are; Is it a conflict on interest to have a board member hire the brother, if he is the best candidate? If it is okay, should he abstain from voting, and if he abstains does he have to declare that before the motion is made, or before the vote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted March 31, 2015 at 02:44 PM Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 at 02:44 PM The school board that I am a member of, is in the process of interviewing new candidates for the School Superintendent. One of the applicants, has a brother that is a board member. My questions are; Is it a conflict on interest to have a board member hire the brother, if he is the best candidate? If it is okay, should he abstain from voting, and if he abstains does he have to declare that before the motion is made, or before the vote? See http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#9 He need not mention his reason for abstaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 31, 2015 at 02:54 PM Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 at 02:54 PM Since this is a school board, which is most likely a public body subject to your state's open meetings laws and ethics laws and rules, you probably need to be looking more to your state and local open meetings and ethics laws rather than to Robert's Rules for determining if a school board member can vote on hiring his brother for superintendent. Your state laws might mandate that he recuse himself or abstain from voting. Of course, he can abstain from voting per RONR, but I think the question is whether he must abstain. Edited to add: if this is a school board for a private school, and is not a public body, then those laws might not apply, but I would still check them out to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted March 31, 2015 at 03:35 PM Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 at 03:35 PM In fact, in some jurisdictions, nepotism rules might prevent hiring the person in the first place, or might require the brother to resign from the board. There's no one answer that applies globally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 31, 2015 at 04:03 PM Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 at 04:03 PM In fact, in some jurisdictions, nepotism rules might prevent hiring the person in the first place, or might require the brother to resign from the board.Gary is right. This is something that both brothers need to be checking out very thoroughly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted March 31, 2015 at 04:09 PM Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 at 04:09 PM So RONR is chopped liver, eh? At least Mr. Hart doesn't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted March 31, 2015 at 06:17 PM Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 at 06:17 PM RONR is not chopped liver, but it is superseded by state statutes, code, and canapés. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 31, 2015 at 06:31 PM Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 at 06:31 PM So RONR is chopped liver, eh? At least Mr. Hart doesn't think so. RONR is not chopped liver, but it is superseded by state statutes, code, and canapés.In this case RONR is more like a side order of hush puppies. Or maybe like steak sauce: Not really needed if you have a really good steak, but absolutely necessary if it's a crummy one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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