The Mingus Union High School Governing Board voted 3-2 to allow board members’ families to volunteer with the district during its meeting on Aug. 13.
The topic first came up in its June regular meeting, where legal and perception concerns of conflicts of interest were discussed.
The volunteers would not be paid, but would be considered employees of the district who need to go through the application and interview processes.
These are roles like athletic coaches who work continuously throughout a season or year.
The chain-of-command questions stem from the fact that all volunteers report to the superintendent, who is an employee of the board.
“It places an unwanted favoritism — bias, if you will — on our board if it’s decided tonight that we would want to allow our spouses to volunteer in certain capacities as employees for our school,” board member Matthew Chavez said.
Board member Will David said it’s questionable to have a situation where the superintendent would be overseeing a family member of a boss who could potentially fire him or her.
“It is a fine line, and I think that if we can maneuver it in a way that works, fantastic,” MUHSD Superintendent Melody Herne, Ph.D., said.
“I think that if something happens where it’s not working, we come back as a governance team, we discuss that, and possibly look to see what’s the next step.”
The vote failed in the June meeting because board member Austin Babcock said he wanted to see legal advice before approving it.
“I would like to read,” Babcock said, “this is [Phoenix-based attorney] Carrie O’Brien: ‘I reviewed the draft policy. In my opinion, the new policy is not required and it does not need to come back to the board. Whether a Governing Board member’s relative may volunteer at the district is covered under existing policy.’”
He said the law and MUHSD policy focus on monetary benefit. Because these volunteers are unpaid, the legal grounds to sue would not hold up, he argued.
During the June meeting, David said volunteers receive more benefit than just monetary. Volunteer experience is often just as valuable as job experience, and the role of the board is to reduce conflicts of interest.
“We are not volunteers ourselves,” he said on Thursday. “We are public servants, elected, appointed … and we must be transparent.”
He said most of the volunteers come for the athletics programs, very few are outside that realm.
“In my career, I have reassigned personnel … lateral or promoted them to preclude situations in which familial bonds might create real or perceived chain-of-command issues,” he said.
Favoritism and perceived bias are not a good look for the district, he said.
“When I was coaching, I had to remind my players who built it,” board member Frank Nervarrez said. “I had a favorite player of mine. And some parents would feel the same way. No matter where you go, it’s going to happen.”
Repeating what he said at the June meeting, David said whoever brought forth the policy originally should recuse themselves from the vote.
No board members recused themselves, and with the attorney saying it is legally OK, Babcock changed his vote from “no” to “yes.”
