PHIL WIELAND: Portage schools have a policy of making policies

It's amazing why some people need a special policy. Some things should fall into the category of "profound grasp of the obvious" without having to put them in writing.

I know. I'm just a naive country boy who still believes in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and that whole "liberty and justice for all" thing. Still, it's hard for me to believe the Portage High School athletic department saw nothing unusual about using $500 from donations to buy tickets to a campaign fundraiser golf outing for the soon-to-be-ex-mayor.

Agreeing to let four school employees participate in the outing to schmooze with the local powerbrokers doesn't worry me too much. What they expect to garner for the schools as a result is tough to calculate, but to get the attention of the sharks you have to toss a little chum on the water.

Apparently the donation has been common practice for years although it is illegal, and it was refunded after the matter got a little public scrutiny recently. To prevent any future such contributions, School Board President Glenda Owens wanted a policy stating money raised in the school district's name be used only to benefit students.

One can only hope the actual policy is more explicit than that. The worst lawyer on the planet could make a case that the illegal contribution would benefit students because you never know what a good schmooze will accomplish in the right places.

That will be the problem. Even someone such as me, who isn't the brightest bulb on the tree, could show how almost anything benefits students without having to go through some sort of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" connective convolutions.

Golf outing tickets? That's got to be more beneficial to students than the state's decision not to require the teaching of cursive writing. You could justify gold-plating the superintendent's desk — or the superintendent — as beneficial to the students on the grounds it inspires them to do well and succeed so that they, too, can someday have a gold-plated desk.

Not that the Portage Township School Board would ever consider gold-plating the superintendent's desk or the superintendent. They want to be seen as the fiscally responsible board. The board was criticized recently for spending more for travel and attendance at national conferences.

They've spent only $6,900 through September, but Owens knows how to handle the problem. That's right. They created a new policy.

Shouldn't there already be a policy on such things? Do they have any policies on anything? Maybe they should create a policy about that.

The opinions are those of the writer. He can be reached at phil.wieland@nwi.com or (219) 548-4352.