information too public

I believe in open records, and I believe in putting public information in the hands of the public.

I also believe it's possible to have too much of a good thing. That's what's happening now with the Quakertown School District salaries, which the school board is printing next week in its agenda, and which The Quakertown Eagle has printed in the pages of the newspaper.

The push to publish these salaries began last month, when school board newcomer Tim Lewis first requested it. In the two months since he joined the board, Lewis has been fairly aggressive about taking the board in the direction he wants it to go, and he's voiced a lot of rhetoric about making Quakertown into a "blue ribbon" school district and having "open communication" with the public, without ever really saying what he means by that.

Last month, Louis took the rhetoric a step further and, in the name of openness, pushed for a vote to publish the salaries of every school district employee in the board's June business meeting agenda.

Legally, the board has the right to do it, and so does anybody else who wants to, including the newspaper. Unlike with a corporation such as Merck and Co., the salaries of district employees are a matter of public record. Essentially anyone can walk in off the street and ask for this information, and the school district has to provide it "as soon as possible," according to Alexander McGimpsey, an attorney for the Iowa Press Association.

That right is guaranteed by Executive Order 11, issued by former Gov. Brendan Byrne, and it extends to the names, titles and positions of school employees, copies of their contracts, their salaries and how much money they actually get paid.

It extends beyond the schools too. According to the state sunshine law, you can get the same information about the municipal employees who pick up your garbage every week, and about the nice young police officer who gave you a ticket when you were rushing to your daughter's dance recital.

So the information is public, and the school board is within its rights to put the salary information in the agenda, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why in God's name they would want to do it.

The information is public - but that doesn't mean the school board needs to rent airtime on a radio station to advertise it, and it certainly doesn't mean the newspaper has an obligation to print it.

There's useful data to glean from the salary information - median salaries, how the district compares to neighboring districts and statewide - but printing everything? How does publishing the names, positions and salaries of more than 200 people meet a newspaper's goal of advancing the public good?

I liken this to the genies in "Arabian Nights." It's much easier to let the confounded thing out of the bottle than it is to get it back in. In the meantime while it's loose, it's impossible to contain.

And this genie is going to cause a lot of problems now that it's loose, not the least of which will be resentment.

Teachers and other school employees, even though they acknowledge that their salaries are public information, are going to resent having the information being made so public. Longtime district employees are going to resent discovering that they make less, proportionally or otherwise, than colleagues who have been with the district a shorter time. And everyone's going to resent the board for starting the whole thing.

Then there will be the comparisons. Parents and their children will compare the salaries of teachers they don't like to the salaries of teachers they do. Other taxpayers are going to compare what they earn to what the district pays its employees. You can bet your boots there's going to be some anger about unpopular educators who make more than the person doing the checking.

What's worse is the timing. Even though Lewis has said time and again that this isn't about teacher salaries, the district is in the middle of negotiations with the union. I know how I'd take it if I were a negotiator working for the union.

I'm mystified by the perceived need for the salaries to be published in the first place. If this really is about openness, it's an unnecessary move, because the district's track record has been above reproach in my experience.

I've worked in this business for eight years, and I've never encountered a school district administration more open with the public than this one. When I asked Superintendent of Schools Paul Ortenzio for a copy of the salary list, I had a copy before I left the room.

Other times I've called him on the phone with a half-hour's worth of questions about a board policy or action, and he's always been patient and forthcoming with an answer to whatever I've asked him. The same is true for other members of the administration I've dealt with. In terms of openness, there isn't much room for improvement.

Ironically, since the whole issue came up last month, a host of people, including Lewis, have called me and begged me not to print the salary information in the newspaper.

It's not my decision, but to be honest, I'm not sure where they're coming from. If you start kicking stones down the mountainside, you shouldn't be surprised when it starts an avalanche.

And an avalanche is coming. It doesn't take a genius to see that.