Board Policy

BP 4156.4

Certificated Personnel

Gifts To Employees

General

Employees of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District shall perform their duties according to the highest standards of loyalty and fidelity, free not only from all conflict of interest but from the appearance of such conflict.

Gifts From Vendors, Representatives of Business Firms, or Any Commercial Entity

In accordance with this principle, district employees shall not accept gifts, favors, or any such offer or series of offers from a vendor or representative of any business or commercial entity. This, however, shall not preclude the acceptance by employees of complimentary advertising or promotional tokens of purely nominal value only, such as calendars.

Gifts From Students and/or Parents Presented as Remembrances, or Tokens of Appreciation

Whenever a student, a group of students, a parent, or a group of parents wishes to express special praise or appreciation to a teacher or other members of the staff, it shall be considered more appropriate to do so through a letter or note, rather than through the presentation of a gift.

The presentation of gifts by students and/or parents to teachers, administrators, or other staff members is prohibited.

The exception to this rule shall be instances where a student or a group of students desires to present a simple and inexpensive gift as a remembrance or a token of appreciation to a teacher or other members of the staff. In such instances, the individual cost to a family of any such gift shall not exceed $10; with a gift donated as a result of a group effort, the cost to any individual family shall not exceed $5 and the total cost of the gift shall not exceed $50. In no case, however, should any student or parent be made to feel obligated to present an individual gift or participate in the group presentation of a gift to a teacher or other staff members.

Gifts From Any Individual Seeking To Influence the Judgment of Employee(s)

No employee of the district shall accept a gift from any person seeking preferential or special treatment of any kind.

Policy PALOS VERDES PENINSULA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

adopted: February 8, 2001 Palos Verdes Estates, California