Chief investigator from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission John Grant says a teacher is a teacher 24 hours a day/7 days a week, and must remember to conduct themselves in a manner that will not violate the Code of Ethics.

Educators and administrators are entrusted with our island's youth and because of this they are held to a higher standard of conduct. Today training continued for the Department of Education with a focus on educator misconduct. Grant said, "Teachers are held to a high standard and each year it is good to come in and remind teachers that they have a very precious charge the kids and the students of the island of Guam and the expectation is these students are treated with the utmost respect."

Teachers and administrators were familiarized with the standards or Code of Ethics, and according to Grant there are ten standards adopted by Guam including professional conduct, legal compliance, conduct with students, alcohol and drugs, and public funds and property. "I like to look at the Code of Ethics like the code of common sense. Use good common sense, you are not going to violate the Code of Ethics, however life happens and life happens to educators just like it happens to anyone else. Sometimes bad judgments or poor decisions by an educator can cause some ramifications in their professional life," explained Grant.

He says educators should keep their personal and professional lives separate, saying, "When the personal life carries over into the professional life sometimes there is conflict and that's when the commission becomes concerned with the educators conduct." Such include conflicts which may result in misconduct and an investigation by the Guam Commission for Education Certification. "The idea is that there is somebody, a commission, that the parents school system can say we want someone to scrutinize this conduct and find out if this is something that deserves this person to have a sanction on their certificate," Grant concluded.

He says these standards are in place to protect the learning environment, the student and the teaching profession.