To: Ms. Marsha Hardin, Assistant Middle School Principal, (Naples)
SUMMARY:
No prohibited conflict of interest would be created under Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes, were an assistant middle school principal to sell insurance and tax-sheltered annuities to School District employees other than employees at the school she serves. Because of the assistant principal's authority over employees in the middle school where she is employed, she should not sell to employees at that school. CEO's 88-14, 85-51, 80-68, 79-83, and 75-127
QUESTION:
In your letter of inquiry you advise that you are employed as an assistant principal at a middle school.
You further advise that you wish to sell insurance and tax-qualified annuities to School District employees during the summer and after school hours, where the companies whose products you sell have undergone a screening process by the School Board and are permitted to offer their products to employees of the school system.
This provision prohibits you from having an employment or contractual relationship with a business entity which is doing business with, or is regulated by, your public agency.
As noted in CEO 88-14, the "agency" of an assistant school principal is the school at which she serves. See also CEO 79-83. There is no indication from the information you have provided that the insurance companies whose products you sell are doing business with or are regulated by your middle school. The question then, is whether your selling life insurance and annuities to other District employees would create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between your private interests and the performance of your public duties. In CEO 75-127, we opined that a school board member should not solicit the sale of life and disability insurance to school personnel at their residences during non-duty hours because of the school board's authority over its personnel. A similar result was reached in CEO 80-68. However, in CEO 85-51
You have indicated that you have authority over fellow employees at your middle school concerning school-based curriculum matters. We are of the view that because you are in a position to supervise and evaluate other employees at your school, you should not solicit or sell tax-sheltered annuities to the employees of the middle school where you are assistant principal. With that restriction, we find that no prohibited conflict of