Electronic communication (including email) is quickly becoming the De facto standard for communicating in our educational entities. When this e-communication rises to the level of an official record, it must be stored, retained, retrieved, and even deleted according to state policy. Storing E-communications is as important as storing any type of business-related document and the failure to do so, especially in the case of litigation, can be costly.
That is the bad news, the good news is that there are several, relatively easy steps you can take as an educational entity that will keep you on the right side of the law and even more importantly, help you maintain important records. Before getting to that however, we need to frame the discussion. To do that I submit the following definition:
E-communications that meet the definition of records must be retained according to a schedule and must be accessible in the case of a FOIA request and conversely deleted according to that same schedule.
The term, E-communications is important here and should not be misconstrued as email only. Email is only one type of e-communication. E-communications also include: Internet messaging, calendars, web pages, blogs, digital images, and word processed documents, etc.
While it is important to exchange the term “email” for “e-communications”, linking it to the concept of records is even more important for two reasons. First, the State of Michigan says that certain e-communications are records and second because they have already created policy for handling records.
The State of Michigan Retention and Disposal Schedule for Public Schools accomplishes three key goals. The first is detailed above: Connection of e-communications to records.
The second is a discussion of record types and their definition. Records fit into four areas: Official Records, Transitory Records, Non-records, and Personal Records. The first two conform to the schedule and second two do not. One of the biggest issues you will face with your staff is determining where their e-communications fit.
The third key goal of the State of Michigan Retention and Disposal Schedule for Public Schools, related to records types, is the retention and deletion schedule. The schedule details the length of time a certain type of record should be retained. Inherent in this schedule are two concepts: Not all records should be kept the same amount of time and records that have outlived their schedule should be deleted. Retaining e-communications that are not considered records or past their schedule can take up needed system space, make searching for needed records difficult, and can even be embarrassing to a district if exposed in the course of a broad FOIA request.
This information should not be construed as legal advice or the best policy for your school district. Each school district’s situation is unique and before implementing any policy, you should consult with legal counsel.