All employees should avoid any conflict between their personal interests and the interest of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD (District) in dealing with students, parents, vendors, customers, and all other organizations or individuals doing or seeking to do business with the District. Employees should avoid actual conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts of interest. An employee must disclose in writing to his or her immediate supervisor a personal financial interest, a business interest, or any other obligation or relationship that in any way creates a potential conflict of interest with the proper discharge of assigned duties and responsibilities or with the best interest of the District. See Board Policy DBD (Local).

You should perform your day-to-day duties with integrity and in an ethical manner. By doing so, you set a good example for others and you help to set the tone for your department, your campus, and the District.

Annually, employees with primary purchasing responsibilities are required to complete an employee conflict of interest questionnaire available via a link provided by the internal audit department, excluding Local Government Officers (LGO). Employees are identified as having primary purchasing responsibilities based on their position with the District. These employees will be contacted by the Internal Audit Department to request this annual filing.

If you are an employee of the District who exercises discretion in connection with contracts, purchases, payments, claims, or other pecuniary transactions, you should not solicit, accept, or agree to accept any benefit from an entity or a person that you know is interested in or likely to become interested in any such transactions of the District. An exception to this law is that you may accept a gift, service, favor, or other benefit if it is less than $50 in value and does not include cash or negotiable instruments. Gift cards are not considered a negotiable instrument and may be accepted if less than $50.

The estimated value of a gift, favor, service, or other benefit is the amount you would pay if the item or service was purchased from an independent source.

In addition, principals and sponsors should not accept personal gifts from District PTOs and Booster Clubs unless the gifts are certificates, plaques, or similar recognition items. Since PTOs and Booster Clubs are charitable organizations as IRS 501(c)(3) entities, the use of PTO and Booster Club funds for personal gifts is restricted.

Stricter laws apply when the vendor is a textbook publisher. Vendors of textbooks or instructional materials purchased using IMA (Instructional Materials Allotment) funds are considered textbook publishers. If a gift, favor, service, or other benefit is from a textbook publisher, you or the District may only accept a gift related to staff development, in-service, or teacher training; or ancillary materials, such as maps or worksheets, that convey information to the student or otherwise contribute to the learning process. For textbook publishers, NO DOLLAR EXCEPTIONS to this law are applicable.