FRONTIER
REGIONAL/UNION#38
Records Retention Policy
for Electronic Correspondence
All business conducted
by government agencies are subject to the Public Records law of the
The
use of electronic correspondence has proliferated to the point that it is
quickly becoming a primary means of communication for school administrators,
professional and support staff, volunteers, School Committee members, school
councils, and other school groups both during and outside of regular business
hours and regularly posted meetings. As such, it is evident that there needs to
be a policy both to determine content relevancy and to ensure that content is
retained for the correct period of time. All school employees, elected and
appointed members of school committees, councils, school groups, and school
volunteers, who routinely or otherwise engage in the use of electronic
correspondence for school related purposes should receive instruction on Public
Records law and data retention.
Proper
management of public records ensures that the government and other authorized
personnel have immediate access to information for the full period of time it
is needed to conduct daily business, financial transactions, litigation,
maintenance of public property, and development and implementation of public
policy. Electronic records pose unique problems of recognition, retention,
storage and retrieval. The purpose of this policy is to assist
It is the intent of this
policy that all electronic correspondence be retained as per the content of the
communication. The Public Records Law of Massachusetts issues a schedule of
records maintenance, retention, exemptions, and disposal based on content.
Refer to Public Records Law G.L.c.4, §7(26) for the explanation of “public
records,” see 950 C.M.R. 32.00; G.L.c.66 §1 for Public Records Access, and §10
for Public inspection and copies of records.
Public Records are “all books, papers,
maps, photographs, recorded tapes, financial statements, statistical
tabulations, or other documentary materials or data, regardless of physical
form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee” of a
governmental agency. This includes all government records generated, received
or maintained electronically, including computer records, electronic mail,
video and audiotapes.
“The statutory definition of “public records” does not
distinguish between
traditional paper
records and records stored in the computer medium.
Rather, it provides that
all information made or received by a public entity,
regardless of the manner
in which it exists, constitutes “public records.”
Computer cards, tapes or diskettes are all independent
public records that are
subject to the same requirements of the Public Records Law
as are paper
records.
Therefore, a records custodian is obliged to furnish copies of non-
exempt portions
of computerized information at the cost of reproduction, unless
- A Guide to the
Executives, in relation to public
record documents, include Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Business
Managers, Directors, Principals, Assistant Principals and School Committee
members.
Archive
is defined as an archival copy of a document stored in accordance with the
retention schedule as defined by Public Records law.
Backup
is defined as a temporary duplicate of a file that is stored for a specified
period of time not necessarily in accordance with Public Records law for the
convenient retrieval of a document that was accidentally erased by the user.
Custodian of Records
is defined as “the governmental officer or employee who in the normal course of
his or her duties has access to or control of public records.
In the
Frontier Regional and
All
records will be managed in accordance with the
Departments
of the
All
electronic records subject to retention must be preserved on paper with all
original header information and or metadata, if applicable, if the retention
period is greater than ten (10) years. Electronic records whose retention
period is less than ten (10) years shall be archived electronically in a manner
that provides for easy access and retrieval. These records include e-mails and
their attachments, old and new web pages, videos, floppy disks, CDs,
audiotapes, and videotapes.
Records Custodians shall, in
collaboration with the IT department, determine the specifics of how this
policy will be enforced. Suggestions may be found below.
Every department
is required to have a Records Custodian. Custodians should
provide proper care and management of Public Records. Records Custodians have
the authority to direct personnel who control or hold records.
The
Records Custodian should know:
1. What records the
Department makes or receives
2. Who makes or receives
the records
3. When the records
can/should be destroyed according to the Records Retention Schedule
4. Where the records are
stored
5.
How
the records can be accessed during the retention period
In
order to catalog this information, it is recommended that an Electronically
Stored Information (ESI) Survey Data Map be completed that
documents all
School
employees shall be given a District e-mail address and will be required
to use this address for ALL school business without exception. The superintendent and other school employees
shall communicate all official business with school personnel using District
e-mail addresses. The IT Department will not forward school
e-mail to non-District accounts. If a school employee uses a non-school account
for school business, their personal e-mail accounts and computer(s) may be
subject to search and seizure in the event of a legal action against the school
or
The
majority of e-mail files are correspondence files and will therefore come under
section F7:2 of the Mass. Public Records Law (M.G.L
The
(a)
Non-executive E-mail records: shall be stored during the school year and all
deleted on June 30 of each year. E-mail
messages shall be automatically archived when they are received by the
(b) Executives' e-mail records:
shall be stored permanently as hard copy, except for mail with little or no
business value which may be deleted after use.
(c) All outgoing e-mail from the
All electronic messages sent from Frontier Regional and
Union #38
NOTE TO
STAFF: Some system
administrators set limits on the amount of e-mail messages that may be stored
on servers. In these cases is it recommended that mail that the user wishes
to save be moved out of the e-mail system into your home directory as soon as
possible. Although messages will be
automatically archived, they will not be easily accessible.
Upon
the termination of each school year, the Records Custodian shall submit the
necessary documentation to the Commonwealth and upon approval, direct the IT
department to purge records which are no longer subject to retention. NOTE TO STAFF: It is recommended that you DO
NOT store any e-mail or other files beyond the retention period.
A
Litigation Hold occurs upon notification of possible impending litigation, at
which point the superintendent or designee shall notify, within one business
day, all affected Records Custodians, including the Director of IT, that a
litigation hold is in effect. At this time, ALL records described on the Litigation Hold Notification form
must be saved regardless of their normal retention period. If you are notified
that a Litigation Hold has been put in place, do not alter or delete ANY
documents, including e-mails that might have a bearing on the judicial action.
When in doubt, save the document.
It
is the responsibility of the Records Custodian to ensure that no records or
e-mails are destroyed, even if the retention period is passed. The Records
Custodian must be able to retrieve records subject to Litigation Hold upon
request within the time provided for by law.
Records
shall be maintained and stored by the Custodian of Records for each Department
within the
X. Backup
Policy:
Personal
computers shall not be backed up in the regular course of business. Documents
that personnel wish to save must be backed up to a file server. A backup
protocol shall be put in place by the IT Department with the goal of
facilitating the retrieval of documents that are accidentally erased from a
user's computer. A suggested protocol follows:
A new backup shall begin at the beginning of
each month. Data will be saved to a portable disk drive or tape that shall be housed
off-site. Incremental backups of e-mail and data that has been
created or saved on a
XI.
Archival Policy:
An
archiving protocol shall be put in place by the IT Department with the goal of
archiving documents that are covered by Public Records law. A suggested
protocol follows:
A. E-mail
– All incoming and outgoing non-executive e-mail, after passing through a
SPAM/Virus filter, shall automatically be archived for a period of one school
year. Executive e-mail will be archived permanently by printing a hard copy.
Upon the termination of a school-year period, the Records Custodian shall
submit the necessary documentation to the Commonwealth and upon approval,
direct the IT department to purge records which are no longer subject to
retention.
B. Other data
– Each user will be responsible for determining if any given documents are
subject to retention under Public Records law. The data
retention period should be specified per instructions of the Custodian of the
Records. Electronic documents that need to be archived may be
attached to an e-mail that may then be sent to an address supplied by the IT
department, or printed out and filed depending upon the determination made by
the Records Custodian. Documents will then be archived for the specified
period. Upon the termination of the retention period, the
Records Custodian shall submit the necessary documentation to the Commonwealth
and upon approval, direct the IT department to purge electronic records which
are no longer subject to retention. Paper records shall be shredded prior to
disposal.
www.state.ma.us/legs/laws or Sec. of State’s Website
Adopted: