24 / 7 / 365

When it comes to officials, many believe that accountability doesn’t stop when the game ends; it lasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Like it or not, much of the public, and many of those whom we serve, hold us to a higher standard at all times.

Tom Herre led off with a summary of survey responses from NASO members, which indicated that 91 percent of the respondents believed that officials associations should implement a code of conduct for their member officials. That was an overwhelming majority. Yet only 57 percent said that their associations had a code in place.

Most of the survey respondents who said their associations had a code in place indicated that there were either sometimes, usually or always consequences for members who violated the code. But the troubling issue for code enforcement at some levels at least, seemed to be communication.

"I think still clearly the key is communication of what those standards are," noted Bob Gardner.