Sometimes you've just got to wonder if public officials need to take a refresher course in "being a public servant."

Maybe it's the fact that they control large sums of money, maybe they just like telling other people what to do or maybe they've been in office so long they begin to believe they're in charge.

Whatever the reason, many elected officials in this area succumb to what former Times-Union reporter Ruth Anne Lipka called the "Secret Squirrel Syndrome." You know the type - the less they tell the public, the better, because it's not really the public's business anyway.

Police use Secret Squirrel tactics a lot, but usually with a reason - they don't want to reveal all of the details of an investigation or they don't want a bad guy to know they're on to him.

But when that attitude is adopted by a public entity - say, a school board - it could be bothersome.

Monday's Warsaw school board meeting was a perfect example of that attitude.

The board never discusses the business manager's financial report anymore. That report, personnel recommendations, claims and the minutes of previous meetings are all lumped together into "Consent Agenda Items" and passed or not passed in a single motion. The public never really knows what the board is agreeing to.

In cases where something is singled out, again, that is treated as though it must be kept secret. At Monday's meeting, board member Gene England referred to a personnel item that was a "contract non-renewal." When asked for a name, the board totally ignored the question.

Finally, after being asked again for the name, the board reluctantly gave me, and only me, to begin with, a handout that showed that the contract non-renewal was Will Wienhorst, the WCHS girls basketball coach. I didn't even try to ask why the contract was not being renewed because I knew they would refuse with Dr. McGuire's favorite response: "We don't disuss personnel issues."

In fact, one member of the public asked a question about bus drivers in general: Had all bus drivers this year passed the physical requirements?

"We don't discuss personnel issues," McGuire said.

It was nothing about any particular driver, the woman said, just a general question about all drivers.

He refused.

Don't parents deserve to know if the people charged with keeping their children safe are in fact qualified for their jobs?

At the same meeting Monday, another patron, during a time for public comments, noted that board member Mark Minatel was absent at the meeting in which the board approved 4 percent raises for administrators, and she asked him how he would have voted.

McGuire immediately answered for Minatel, saying the question was inappropriate because Minatel wasn't at that meeting.

Minatel also jumped in, angrily refusing to state his position (yes, it was a moot question, but I would think people in his district deserved to know how he would have voted).

Along with the refusal to share information is another tactic I call "the best defense is a good offense."

That was illustrated by Cathy Folk's outburst last week. OK, so it was not in the best of taste for Rick Schooley to tell the board members that some of them may not be there after this fall's election. Still, that was no reason for Cathy Folk to interrupt him and accuse him of threatening the board members. Threatening them with what, not being re-elected? Isn't that simply a fact of life for a public official?

This week Minatel was passed the outburst baton, going off on Becky Thomas for saying teachers are more hands-on with students than administrators are.

"Are you just implying that the administrators are not hands-on with the students?" he said, and not in a kindly way, and went on to emphasize how involved principals are with their students, pointing to Washington Elementary Principal Tom Ray and saying how Ray "gave up his summer" to run the Reading Camp.

A couple things need to be mentioned about that little outburst. First of all, when Folk and Minatel interrupted members of the public who were speaking in the time allotted for public comments, board president Craig Allebach should have hit the gavel and called Folk and Minatel out of order. If a member of the public interrupts a board member who is speaking during the board comments section of the meeting, Allebach doesn't hesitate to stop it. Why isn't the reverse true?

Also, Minatel obviously was not aware or did not want to admit that the school corporation had a principal who was so removed from the students at their school that most of the students didn't even know by sight who their principal was.

Finally, Ray received a $6,000 bonus to run the Reading Camp, hardly "giving up" his summer. Besides, how many of us have an entire summer to give up?

My last point in all of this goes back to the sharing of information. Many members of the public asked for copies of the 2005 budget and were told by McGuire that it would be available on the WCS Web site. (Too bad it wasn't there before the public meeting.)

Anyway, I just want to remind the board and administration that, according to Steven Key, attorney for the Hoosier State Press Association, the purpose of the open door laws is that the public have all the information available in order to make informed decisions. That means that whatever the board gets - their packets, additions, etc. - also should be made available to the public, not just what the board approves or what they act on, but ALL of the information they receive -Êfinancial reports, claims lists, personnel recommendations, everything.

And if you want Steven Key's phone number, just give me a call. [[In-content Ad]]