Advisory Opinion No. 95-95

Re: Raymond E. Spear

A. QUESTION PRESENTED

Whether the Superintendent of Schools for the Coventry School District may, upon his retirement, serve as Executive Director of the West Bay Collaborative without violating the revolving door prohibition of the Code of Ethics.

B. SUMMARY

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that Petitioner Raymond Spear will not violate the Code of Ethics if upon his retirement as Superintendent of Schools for the Coventry School District he serves as Executive Director of the West Bay Collaborative. The decision is based on the Commission's finding that employment by the West Bay Collaborative does not constitute employment by the Petitioner's own board as set forth in Regulation § 36-14-5006.

C. DISCUSSION

1. Facts

The Petitioner is currently employed as the Superintendent of Schools in the Coventry School District, Rhode Island. He is scheduled to retire in June of 1996. Contingent upon said retirement, the Petitioner has been appointed Executive Director of the West Bay Collaborative (hereinafter the "Collaborative") effective July 1, 1996.

The Collaborative is an entity comprised of eight member school districts; Coventry, Cranston, Foster, Foster/Glocester, Providence, Scituate, Warwick and West Warwick. The purpose of the Collaborative is to create certain educational and business services for its member districts. The Collaborative is governed by an eight member Board of Directors which is comprised of the superintendents from each of the districts. The Executive Director is appointed by a majority vote of the Board. The Board also determines policies and directives by majority vote. As Executive Director, the Petitioner will be required to follow these policies and directives. Additionally, the Petitioner will be responsible for operating common purchasing programs for supplies and services, initiating staff training projects and developing new programs.

2. Analysis

At issue in this advisory opinion request is whether the Superintendent of Schools for the Coventry School District may, upon his retirement, serve as Executive Director of the West Bay Collaborative without violating the revolving door prohibition of the Code of Ethics. Regulation

§ 36-14-5006 prohibits elected and appointed officials from accepting any appointment or election by the body of which he or she is or was a member, to any position which carries with it financial remuneration, until the expiration of one year after termination of his or her membership in or on such a body.

The Executive Director's position the Petitioner seeks carries a financial remuneration. His appointment to the position would become effective immediately upon his retirement as Superintendent. However the appointment is not by the body of which he was a member and therefore Regulation 36-14-5006 does not apply. As indicated above, the Coventry School District only has one member on the Board of Directors and therefore only one vote in the appointment of the Executive Director.

Because the membership of the School District and the West Bay Collaborative are not coterminous they are not the same "body" for purposes of Regulation 36-14-5006. This decision is consistent with the prior holding in 94-32. The facts in that advisory opinion are analogous to those described above. In 94-32 the collaborative involved was the Southern Rhode Island Collaborative. As with the West Bay Collaborative, this Collaborative was made up of a number of school districts. Similar to the West Bay, this Collaborative was governed by an entity comprised of superintendents representing each member district. However in the Southern Rhode Island Collaborative, in addition to a superintendent from each district, the district was also represented by a school committee member. In 94-32 the question was whether an individual from a member district school committee could be appointed to the executive director's positions. Because the member district was not solely responsible for the appointment, the Commission held no violation of the Code of Ethics would occur if the school committee member were appointed executive director, so long as the school committee member first resigned. Although in this case the Petitioner has already been appointed, that "appointment" is contingent upon his retirement as Superintendent of Schools and does not in and of itself create a conflict.

Keywords

Post-Employment

Revolving Door