EMU's Ethos Week: 'Policy of transparency' fuels Detroit Public Schools emergency finance chief Robert Bobb

Posted: Mar 19, 2010 at 2:57 PM [Mar 19, 2010]

Detroit Public Schools emergency finance manager Robert Bobb said he was stunned to find out that the distressed district lacked a code of ethics when he took the job a year ago.

Bobb, speaking this afternoon at Eastern Michigan University’s fourth annual Ethos Week, struck a somber mood in a speech emphasizing the importance of leaders adhering to "the values of universal truth, moral authority of right and the propensity of justice, fairness and equality."

“A policy of transparency will influence others to have faith in your deliberations, faith in your actions,” Bobb said. “A person tempered with an attitude for the truth is most likely to be trustworthy and will not engage in deception.”

Bobb’s speech served as the capstone event of Ethos Week, which is conducted by the EMU College of Business.

Bobb’s speech came amidst a controversy associated with his personal compensation. In 2010 he will reportedly receive $145,000 in supplemental income from private foundations in addition to his $280,000 base salary, which sparked an outcry from the Detroit Public School Board.

"It's a conflict of interest," DPS board member LaMar Lemmons said last week, according to the Detroit News.

Bobb didn’t address the controversy this afternoon, but he said a “wide array of mismanagement” plagues the district.

“It became apparent that we inherited a system with multitudes of issues and this system was emblematic of a system where standards, codes and guidelines were inconsequential to the conduct of the public’s business,” he said.

Bobb said he implemented a code of ethics almost immediately after becoming emergency finance manager for the district.

“This was troubling to learn that an agency as large as DPS did not have an employee code of ethics,” he said. “Our goal in the new code of ethics that we have initiative is to ensure accountability, truthfulness, personal integrity and a duty of responsibility for all Detroit Public Schools employees.”

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