Educrats who violate ethics rules believe that there is no transparency and/or accountability and act unethically because they can, or because erroneous data leads to false assumptions. Enron, Worldcom, even Watergate and the Iraqi War, have undermined the public trust in all areas of government. The Kettering Foundation has looked into this subject, and published the results in The International Governance Project (available in English, Spanish, French and Russion). Additionally, Public Agenda found that Americans think alot about business ethics:

A Few Bad Apples?:
An Exploratory Look at What Typical Americans Think about Business Ethics Today
Steve Farkas, Ann Duffett and Jean Johnson with Beth Syat

In focus groups conducted in collaboration with The Kettering Foundation, Public Agenda found that citizens define business ethics more broadly than executives do. When typical citizens talk about business ethics, they cite executives who enrich themselves while driving their companies into the ground. Protecting employees' jobs, they say, should be a top ethical priority. When executives talk about ethics, they are concerned about the damage recent scandals have done to business' reputation and the need to restore public trust. The two groups found areas of agreement on the root causes of corporate scandals and the debate about new regulations. But views differed on executive pay and were dramatically different on the subject of job protection and layoffs.

Reports from across the US indicate that the public - the taxpayer, "ordinary" citizen, parent, guardian - increasingly has the power of the media and e-accountability, or internet responsiveness, to quickly expose fraud, corruption or ethical lapses which then can lead to the firing or resignation of government/education administration personnel.

Every day anyone can read about the secret government in every state of the nation. This government is comprised of elected and appointed officials, but also includes "consultants", "findraisers", "lobbyists", etc., etc., the list is as long as the dictionary.

Ethical choice is the core of school leadership, says Craig Colgan in the May issue of the American School Board Journal, and he reports on school districts across the United States where school leaders are finding out just how important it is to make a 'right' and ethically sound decision whenever problems arise. Whistleblowers are, of course, punished for their exposure of ethical lapses - or deliberate fraud - even if they involve only speech, and this leads to legal issues of Title VII violations and Hostile Work Environments. Colgan mentions Robert Kimball:

Houston Chronicle, April 16, 2004, 9:48PM

Assistant principal files whistle-blower suit
Says HISD retaliating over Sharpstown disclosures
By JASON SPENCERCopyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
An HISD assistant principal has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit accusing Houston school officials of retaliating against him for pointing out falsely reported dropout numbers at Sharpstown High School.

Robert Kimball, who says he now works in an elementary school office the size of a closet, is asking for his old high school job back and $250,000.

The Sharpstown controversy prompted a Texas Education Agency review of 5,458 records of students who left Houston schools in the 2000-2001 school year. The TEA determined that 2,999 of those students, who have since been reclassified as dropouts, had wrong or missing information.

A TEA-appointed monitor has recently reported significant improvement in HISD's dropout reporting practices.

Houston Independent School District officials have said Kimball is partially to blame for the Sharpstown problem because he failed to report his concerns to the appropriate administrators.

"The allegations in this lawsuit are primarily the same allegations presented in Mr. Kimball's grievance," HISD attorney Kaye DeWalt said in a written statement. "The Board heard his grievance in January and denied it. The District continues to adamantly deny these allegations."

Kimball and his attorney, Damian LaCroix, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In his lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state district court, Kimball says he noticed that Sharpstown administrators had incorrectly reported no dropouts for the 2001-2002 school year. Kimball says he knew at least 30 students who had left the school, according to the lawsuit.

Kimball said HISD administrators did nothing when he told them about the discrepancy in the fall of 2002.

"Consequently, Dr. Kimball brought his concerns to the news media," the lawsuit states. "As a result of the media reporting on the issue, HISD was forced to conduct an investigation into the integrity of (Sharpstown's) dropout information."

HISD eventually docked two weeks' pay from Principal Carol Wichmann's retirement because of her role in the scandal. Computer specialist Kenneth Cuadra, whom the district held responsible for the data, and Kimball appealed their transfers to other schools, but the school board denied their requests. Trustees accused Kimball of being more interested in getting on television than in the welfare of the students.

The district took Kimball out of Sharpstown and sent him to a district office about a week after he told a person he described as a district-appointed investigator about his concerns, according to the lawsuit. HISD then moved Kimball to Ashford Elementary, where he says he was told to alphabetize lunch cards and perform janitorial services.

Last month, Kimball was assigned to Sharpview Elementary, but the lawsuit says he has not been given a key to the building and hasn't been given any duties consistent with his assistant principal title.

HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said Kimball's responsibilities at the school include handling discipline, observing teachers, assisting on a park project and managing the campus when the principal is away.

Kimball was transferred out of Ashford because he did not get along with the principal, Abbott said.

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But the internet is allowing the public a chance to speak out and interact with the process of educating our children, as we can see from more and more requests for feedback from students and parents on teachers and administrators.This "back end" accountability will bring about an ethics revolution, as the public outcry over what has been private wrong-doing and improprieties will not be able to be sustained. Is forced accountability and ethical conduct the same as honest conduct in the first place? We cant really say, yet.

In school districts where Mayors take over school systems as in New York City, the issue of public trust becomes more important than ever before. Why? Because the Mayor appoints the Chancellor, and the Mayor can be voted out of office. New York City's Chancellor may, according to the new rules, stay on in his current position for two years after the Mayor leaves office, but the new Mayor may not want to work with the Chancellor from the previous administration. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the voting public now has a stronger voice in deciding whether or not the Chancellor is doing, or has done, a good job, by voting in the next NYC Mayoral election (November 2005). The E-Accountability Foundation believes that our Department of Education and New York City government leaders do not recognize or give any value to the rising public dismay over the lack of accountability and transparency in our government, and that this is a mistake. We "ordinary" citizens are not going to sit back and do nothing, as many of us have in the past. Listed below are parent groups who are speaking out against the lack of accountability and waste of public money, and we will add any groups who contact us:

Plano Parental Rights Council


Americans For Prosperity Foundation


Texas Educator's Witness Protection

Plano Independent School District Unofficial School Page


Center for Education Reform

EducationNews.org

Mathematically Correct

Texas Parents as Partners

Education Links

Education Consumer's Clearinghouse

Parents For Improved Education


End Teacher Abuse: NAPTA

NYC HOLD: The National Fuzzy Math Issue

Informed Residents of Reading