BVSD Clarifies Rules for Acceptance of Personal Gifts by Employees

For several years, the Boulder Valley School District has had a policy limiting the gifts that BVSD employees can accept as a result of their administration, teaching, coaching, club sponsorship, etc. from parents, community sponsors, or vendors seeking to do business with a school or the district. Because the superintendent’s regulation supporting this policy was found to be unclear, Superintendent Chris King issued a rewritten regulation this summer (See GBI-R).

Concerns were raised last year that some BVSD staff members did not know about the district policy regarding acceptance of personal gifts related to their employment. A review of existing practices in the spring of 2008 throughout BVSD found inconsistent practices and a general lack of awareness of district limitations for acceptance of personal gifts by BVSD staff.

Three major concerns underpin the new gift acceptance regulation. They are: 1) the potential for impropriety or the appearance of impropriety, 2) the creation of inequities among BVSD’s schools and departments, and 3) the lack of clarity as to tax implications given the high financial value of some of the gifts discovered.

This revised regulation does not ban all gifts. It does spell out more clearly than in the past what are acceptable gifts to receive.

Some Examples of a gift that IS ACCEPTABLE within BVSD policy and regulation:

• Accepting clothing that qualifies as “spirit wear” e.g. sweatshirts and other clothing supporting a BVSD-affiliated activity, event or team.
• Accepting perishable items such as food or flowers e.g. a bouquet of flowers presented to a drama teacher on the closing night of a school play.
• Accepting a group gift for a major life event e.g. a wedding, the birth or adoption of a child, major illness or a death in the family, retirement, etc.  In these circumstances, while the total gift may exceed $25.00, no individual contribution may exceed that amount.
• Accepting a gift to a school or a program e.g. new music stands for a middle school jazz band, a new tree to plant to replace a tree that had to be removed, new athletic team equipment, school gardens and school cafeteria salad bars, etc.
• Accepting a ticket or tickets with a face value of more than $25.00 if the ticket is to a BVSD-affiliated event.
• Accepting tickets for travel, housing, admission or food when an employee is acting as a chaperone of a BVSD-sponsored event or attending a professional event.

Examples of a gift that IS NOT ACCEPTABLE within BVSD policy and regulation:

• Accepting group gifts from team parents and or classroom parents that exceed a combined value of more than $25.00 and do not fall within the specific exceptions of the regulation.
• Accepting ongoing gifts e.g. “flower of the month,” with a one-time or cumulative value of more than $25.00.
• Accepting gifts of more than $25.00 from an employee by a supervisor that could be misunderstood as attempting to gain preferential treatment.
• Accepting a gift or cumulative gifts with a value of more than $25.00 from a vendor currently doing business with or seeking to do business with BVSD.

BVSD leadership at both the district and school levels realizes that the desire of parents to appreciate the dedication, skill and hard work of teachers and coaches with gifts comes from a genuine spirit of generosity and appreciation. However, for the three reasons cited above, that generosity and support shown above the $25.00 level is best expressed in support of schools and programs for the direct benefit of students.