Release all expenses incurred by district officials
May 05, 2010 Right to Know Law | Open records
OPINION
Reading Eagle
If Wyomissing School Board members are so concerned about informing the public how much it costs the district to gather information under the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act, perhaps they should include themselves on the list of who requested information, what information was sought, the time it took to fulfill the requests and how much that cost the district.
Board President Michelle Davis said district residents want to know what it is costing the district to fulfill requests from the public, which she said prevents district personnel from performing other duties. No doubt the residents also would be interested in getting the same information when a school board member makes a similar request.
No doubt Davis and the other members of the school board would argue that they are doing the job that is required of them as legally elected school board members, so any costs associated with gathering information for elected officials is simply a part of the cost of doing business. And they would be absolutely correct.
But the same is true of the requests made by the public. As Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association said, providing public information to the public is just part of the cost of doing business.
Melewsky and others - including Wyomissing resident William Murray, who was the first person listed under the new policy - speculated that the school board was posting the information concerning requests under the Right to Know Act in an effort to deter people from making those requests.
We'd like to think that was not the case. We'd like to think that the members of the Wyomissing School Board are dedicated public servants who understand they have an obligation to the people they represent to operate openly and honestly, with the best interests of their constituents at the heart of every decision that they make.
We'd like to think that, but we cannot. We have seen too many instances where elected officials have thumbed their noses at the laws they swore to uphold and the taxpayers who have put them in office. We have seen too many officials who have gone out of their way to find an excuse to meet in secret rather than find a way to keep a meeting open to the public. We have seen too many attempts to keep public records out of the hands of people who have an absolute right to them.
Too many local elected officials - school board members, borough and city council members, township supervisors and township commissioners - would prefer to do the public's business behind closed doors. They would prefer not to have to comply with requests for information.
But that is not the way things work. They must understand that government - and that includes school boards - functions best when the public's business is done in the full view of the public. And, yes, that may include publishing the costs associated with gathering information under the Right to Know Act.
But then all the costs should be published, including those associated with requests made by school board members, such as how much it costs the district to gather this information.
Reading Eagle
If Wyomissing School Board members are so concerned about informing the public how much it costs the district to gather information under the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act, perhaps they should include themselves on the list of who requested information, what information was sought, the time it took to fulfill the requests and how much that cost the district.
Board President Michelle Davis said district residents want to know what it is costing the district to fulfill requests from the public, which she said prevents district personnel from performing other duties. No doubt the residents also would be interested in getting the same information when a school board member makes a similar request.
No doubt Davis and the other members of the school board would argue that they are doing the job that is required of them as legally elected school board members, so any costs associated with gathering information for elected officials is simply a part of the cost of doing business. And they would be absolutely correct.
But the same is true of the requests made by the public. As Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association said, providing public information to the public is just part of the cost of doing business.
Melewsky and others - including Wyomissing resident William Murray, who was the first person listed under the new policy - speculated that the school board was posting the information concerning requests under the Right to Know Act in an effort to deter people from making those requests.
We'd like to think that was not the case. We'd like to think that the members of the Wyomissing School Board are dedicated public servants who understand they have an obligation to the people they represent to operate openly and honestly, with the best interests of their constituents at the heart of every decision that they make.
We'd like to think that, but we cannot. We have seen too many instances where elected officials have thumbed their noses at the laws they swore to uphold and the taxpayers who have put them in office. We have seen too many officials who have gone out of their way to find an excuse to meet in secret rather than find a way to keep a meeting open to the public. We have seen too many attempts to keep public records out of the hands of people who have an absolute right to them.
Too many local elected officials - school board members, borough and city council members, township supervisors and township commissioners - would prefer to do the public's business behind closed doors. They would prefer not to have to comply with requests for information.
But that is not the way things work. They must understand that government - and that includes school boards - functions best when the public's business is done in the full view of the public. And, yes, that may include publishing the costs associated with gathering information under the Right to Know Act.
But then all the costs should be published, including those associated with requests made by school board members, such as how much it costs the district to gather this information.
