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Board clarifies tutoring policy after review of Florida Commission on Ethics guidance
Summary
Board members discussed proposed policy language that would allow district teachers to tutor Pasco students except where a future conflict is likely, citing a Florida Commission on Ethics decision as the source of the restriction.
Pasco County School District board members reviewed clustered items 3129 and 4129 addressing employee tutoring and conflicts of interest, clarifying when a teacher may tutor district students.
Presenters summarized the legal constraint cited in the draft: teachers may not tutor their own assigned students or students they could reasonably expect to have in the future, citing a decision from the Florida Commission on Ethics. “It just says that teachers cannot tutor their own students or students that they could reasonably expect to receive in the future,” said Speaker 1 when explaining the guidance.
Board members discussed practical examples. One board speaker described the rule’s application: a second‑grade teacher should not tutor a first‑grade pupil if the teacher is likely to have that pupil in their class later. “It just says if there's a high likelihood that they will be in charge…you should avoid it,” Speaker 1 said.
Attendees emphasized the policy is not a blanket ban on tutoring. “Situations of tutoring…it's not a prohibition of tutoring, it's just you shouldn't be tutoring your own kids,” Speaker 2 said. Staff offered to supply the original Commission on Ethics decision to board members for review.
No formal vote on the tutoring language is recorded in the transcript; board members indicated staff would add the ethics opinion citation and return the item for adoption.
