LITTLE ROCK (AP) - The state Board of Education approved a new code of ethics for Arkansas' 60,000 licensed teachers Monday, despite concerns from a teachers union that implementing the rules too quickly would create a "gotcha" mentality in schools.
The code, which takes effect Sept. 1, bars teachers from using alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs at school or during school-sponsored activities involving students. It also requires teachers to maintain "professional relationships with students," bans teachers from using their positions for personal gain, and requires them to keep confidential standardized testing material and personal information about students.
In addition, the code levies a fee on some teaching licenses for the first time in the state's history to help pay for enforcement of the new rules. The rules were required under a 2007 state law that also created a 15-member Professional Licensure Standards Board.
The code spells out the process for the newly formed panel that will investigate complaints and recommend disciplinary action to the state Education Board for its final decision. Possible disciplinary actions include a fine of up to $100, a written warning, a written reprimand, probation, and suspension or revocation of a teacher's license.
The Arkansas Education Association had asked the board to consider delaying most of the rules' implementation until next year to give educators time to adjust to the code. The AEA supports the new code, but also said the rules would be more effective if the standards board were given power to subpoena people. It also wants disciplinary hearings closed until final action is taken.
Dan Marzoni, the association's president, said the group would lobby for both changes in the 2009 legislative session.
"We don't want people tried in the paper ... We know in the first year, there's going to be a lot of 'gotchas,"' Marzoni told reporters after Monday's vote. "There's going to be parents out there and people there filing stuff that just has no relationship to reality, and we don't want that person's reputation ruined just because someone got mad."
Marzoni said the disciplinary process should be similar to the state Ethics Commission's, which does not release information about a case until final action is taken.
The rules were finalized after hearings were held around the state with educators, administrators and others. Changes from the hearings included deleting a portion of the code that prohibited "moral turpitude."
"People thought we were trying to be the bedroom police of the state, and that was not our goal," said Beverly Williams, the state Education Department's assistant commissioner for human resources and licensure.
Williams said the new fees levied through the code will raise about $1 million a year to help pay for the new standards board and the rules' enforcement. The new fees include $100 for a five-year standard teacher's license and $35 for a one-year professional teaching permit.
Fees will not be charged for one-year provisional licenses and for three-year initial teaching licenses.
Marzoni said some teachers had complained about the new fees but said his group did not oppose the new structure.
"When you have architects and lawyers and nurses and everybody else with fees, it's not an argument you're going to win. We just took the heat from our members and said we're not going to do anything about the fees," he said.
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