District Administration - November 2009 - (Page 86)

Minding Your E-Mail Legal Principles and Policy Electronic documents, e-mail messages, videos, maps, blueprints, photographs, voice mail messages in some jurisdictions, or items stored on any other medium (e.g., computer drives, data discs and microfilm) may be public records. It is the content, not the medium, that makes a document a record of a public office. E-mails that fall into one of the following categories are generally not subject to disclosure: medical records; security and infrastructure records; records pertaining to adoption, probation, parole proceedings, or attempts by unmarried minors to seek court permission for abortion; trial preparation records; records pertaining to the recreational activities of a minor; and records the release of which is prohibited by state or federal law, including student records and trade secrets. From state to state, it is a fundamental requirement that public records be maintained in such a way that they can be made available for disclosure and inspection promptly, usually within five days. Courts have routinely held that if there is evidence electronic records have been deleted in violation of a public office’s records retention and disposition schedule, the office must recover the contents of deleted e-mails and provide access to them. This is often accomplished through the use of a forensic computer professional, who can review the content of the PC or server and retrieve deleted files. While an e-mail may have been deleted from a user’s inbox, it often continues to exist on the hard drive. But this is no excuse for noncompliance, especially given the costs associated with the work of the forensic computer professional and potential court-awarded damages. In determining how long a record must be maintained, you must first identify the content of the record. Just as a school district cannot treat all paper or microfilm records the same way regardless of their content, a district cannot simply schedule e-mail as a single record category for the purposes of retention. For example, if your district retains employment contracts for 10 years as part of the personnel category of records, you will need to maintain any 86 November/December 2009 employment contract in electronic form for the same period of time. As a general matter, it would not be permissible to create a new category of records entitled “electronic records” or “e-mail.” The content of an electronic document determines whether or not it is a public record and the district’s corresponding retention obligation. An appropriate electronic records policy must provide in plain terms the definition of electronic records and charge each employee who may create or receive schedules, competition schedules, games, statistics and coaching decisions. Faced with this request for such a voluminous amount of information, district officials realized they lacked a mechanism to track e-mail public records. They resorted to using the keyword “softball” and wound up with over 2,000 messages. After a laborious sorting process, fewer than 10 messages were determined to be relevant records per the request. This ordeal resulted in a reassessment of how the district’s e-mail is stored and organized. It is the content, not the medium, that makes a document a record of a public office. electronic records with the responsibility of retaining and organizing these records in accordance with the district’s retention schedule. But just as importantly, the policy must contain specific procedures to permit employees to meet their obligations. This typically involves online, near-line and offline storage systems. For e-mail, online storage involves maintaining documents in an e-mail system’s inbox, outbox or similar folder. Near-line storage involves the removal of e-mails from the e-mail system and saving them, for example, to a local hard drive, while offline storage is the filing of e-mails in a nonelectronic format. Communicating Obligations After a school board adopts a public records policy, district officials must communicate the policy to all stakeholders. Noncompliance with policy requirements because of misinformation is not an acceptable excuse when addressing public records complaints. Westlake City Schools’ request for e-mails regarding the high school softball program stemmed from a parent concern about a coaching decision. The district was asked to provide all e-mails pertaining to the softball team over three years. These e-mails concerned lineups, practice Westlake officials decided upon a three-part procedure: (1) inform employees and board members of current policy and of what constitutes a public record, (2) develop a straightforward system to sort e-mail so it could be more easily searched when records were requested, and (3) train users more effectively. A Web-based policy notice was developed for faculty, staff, administrators and board members. Knowing that these stakeholders have to deal with many policies, officials specifically sent the e-mail retention policy using the district’s online professional development tool and requested that recipients sign off on it. Once the policy was communicated clearly, the need for an easy-touse system of retention was more apparent to them. The district’s director of human resources worked with the technology coordinator to set up a practice most districts can easily replicate. They created three folders (nonrecords, transient records and permanent records) for messages within Microsoft Outlook so employees could sort and store messages easily and appropriately. An online training module was then developed to help employees use the new system. Now they will be asked to complete the module as part of their in-district staff developDistrict Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - November 2009

District Administration - November 2009
Contents
Advertiser Index
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Facilities & Construction
Stimulus Monitor
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Conversations
Mobile Learning Guide
The New Writing Pedagogy
Staying Ahead in Education
Tightening the Purchasing Process
Minding Your E-mail
New Books
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Problem Solution
New Products
Professional Opinion
Crisis Response

District Administration - November 2009