Policy No. 3560
Business Operations
Records Management
and Disposition
1.
General Standard. Records should generally be organized,
managed, retained and disposed of in accordance with law and the Secretary of
State’s schedules for retention and disposition of public records.
2.
Records Officer. The Superintendent is hereby designated as
the records officer of the school district for purposes of this policy. Any questions about the type or category of a
record or the required retention period for it should be addressed to the
records officer.
3.
Electronic Messages. Electronic messages are
communications using an electronic system for the conduct of school district
business internally, between other state and local government agencies, and
with parents, students, patrons and others in the outside world. These messages
may be in the form of e-mail, electronic document exchange (electronic fax),
and electronic data interchange (EDI). In this policy, the terms electronic
messages and e-mail are used, depending on the context, to mean the same thing.
The school district’s electronic system in which records are collected,
organized, and categorized to facilitate preservation, retrieval, use, and
disposition is as follows:
a.
End-User Management. End-user means anyone who creates or
receives electronic messages on the school district’s electronic system.
Electronic messages are to be managed at the end-user’s desktop rather than
from a central point. Each end-user is responsible for organizing, managing and
disposing of records that are part of his or her desktop computer.
b.
Categories for Retention. Electronic messages fall within three
categories: (1) transitory messages; (2) records with a less than permanent
retention period; and (3) records with a permanent retention period. End-users
are to organize, store, retain and dispose of electronic messages according to
these three categories. This means
determining which electronic messages require long-term retention, determining
who is responsible for making this decision, and establishing storage and
disposition requirements for electronic messages.
i. Transitory messages.
Transitory messages include copies posted to several persons and casual
and routine communications similar to telephone conversations. For example, as
determined on an individual case-by-case basis by the end-user, transitory
messages include certain embryonic materials, notes or drafts; unwanted and
unneeded “junk” mail; “personal” mail
for employees not related to school business; unsolicited sectarian, religious,
partisan, political or commercial messages, or political advertising or
advertisements promoting particular personal or religious beliefs, a specific
ballot question, or controversial topics or positions. There is no retention
requirement for transitory messages.
Employees sending or receiving such communications may delete them
immediately without obtaining approval.
ii. Less than permanent retention records. These records are governed by the retention
period for equivalent hard copy records as specified in the approved records
retention and disposition schedules.
These records should be converted to hard copy (printed) or an electronic
format which can be retrieved and interpreted (downloaded) for the legal
retention period. Employees creating or receiving such communications may
delete or destroy the records only according to the applicable retention
schedule. Questions relating to the
retention or destruction of these records should be referred to the records
officer.
iii. Permanent/archival retention records. These are records scheduled for transfer to
the Nebraska State Historical Society (NSHS).
Decisions relating to such records should be made by the records officer
in consultation with NSHS, and the State Records Administrator about either
transferring the records or maintaining them in the agency of origin. If the
transfer decision is made, the method, frequency and format of the transfer
should be determined cooperatively by the records officer, the NSHS, and the
State Records Administrator.
c.
Electronic Storage Limitations. The district’s
computer systems have storage limitations. E-mails are deleted by the computer
system within 60 to 90 days to avoid operational problems. End-users are instructed that electronic
messages that are required to be maintained past that time period should be
converted to hard copy (printed) or an electronic format which can be retrieved
and interpreted (downloaded) for the legal retention period. The retention
period for the particular record is the best indicator of which storage medium
or format to choose.
d.
Proper Use of Electronic Messages.
i. Non-Discrimination. Electronic
messaging is not permitted to be used to promote discrimination on the basis of
race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, political affiliation,
religion, disability or sexual preference; promote sexual harassment; or to
promote personal, political, or religious business or beliefs.
ii. Permissible Use. Electronic messaging is to be used only for purposes
that are consistent with the mission of the school district. Electronic
messaging is not permitted to be used for personal purposes except for:
incidental, intermittent or occasional use which does not interfere with
performance of duties as determined by the administration, use that is
authorized pursuant to an individual use agreement, and use that represents a
form of the employee’s compensation. Electronic messaging is not permitted to
be used for personal financial gain or for the purpose of campaigning for or
against the nomination or election of a candidate or the qualification,
passage, or defeat of a ballot question. Electronic messaging is not permitted
to be used for purposes of assisting a non-profit organization except when and
to the extent such use serves a school purpose or facilitates school district
business.
iii. Conduct. Employees shall not
read electronic messages received by another employee when there is no school purpose
for doing so, send electronic messages under another employee’s name without the
employee’s consent or administrative authorization, or change or alter any
portion of a previously sent electronic message without administrative authorization.
iv. Other Regulations. Electronic
messaging is subject to all requirements of the school district’s “Acceptable
Use of Computers, Network, Internet and Websites” policy and may be monitored
and accessed at any time without prior notice. The school district has complete
authority to regulate all electronic messaging.
Electronic messaging is a privilege and not a property right and is not
a public forum. Electronic messaging is made available subject to all board
policy and regulations, these regulations, building guidelines, use agreements,
handbook provisions, and all administrative orders or directives as issued from
time to time.
4.
Electronic Records
All
books, papers, documents, reports, and records kept by the District may be
retained as electronic records. Minutes of the meetings of the school board may
be kept as an electronic record.
5.
Litigation Holds
When litigation
against the District or its employees is filed or threatened, the District will
take all reasonable action to preserve all documents and records that pertain
to the issue. Such action will in particular be taken when the litigation may
be filed in federal court or otherwise subject to federal rules of discovery.
As soon as the
District is made aware of pending or threatened litigation, a litigation hold
directive will be issued by the records officer or designee. The directive will be given to all persons
suspected of having records that may pertain to the litigation issue.
The litigation hold
directive overrides any records retention schedule that may otherwise call for
the disposition or destruction of the records until the litigation hold has
been lifted. E-mail and computer accounts of separated employees that have been
placed on a litigation hold will be maintained by the records officer until the
hold is released.
Employees who receive notice of a litigation
hold are to preserve all records that pertain to the litigation issue. This includes preserving electronic messages
that would otherwise be deleted by the computer system; such messages are to be
converted by the recipients of the litigation hold to hard copy (printed) or
electronic format which can be retrieved and interpreted (downloaded) for the
duration of the litigation hold.
No employee who has
been notified of a litigation hold may alter or delete an electronic or other record
that falls within the scope of the hold. Violation of the litigation hold may
subject the employee to disciplinary actions, up to and including dismissal, as
well as personal liability for civil and/or criminal sanctions by the courts or
law enforcement agencies.
6.
Settlement Agreements
A public written or electronic record of all settled
claims shall be maintained.
The record for all such claims settled in the amount
of fifty thousand dollars or more (or one percent of the total annual budget of
the School District, whichever is less) shall include a written executed
settlement agreement. The settlement agreement shall contain a brief
description of the claim, the party or parties released under the settlement,
and the amount of the financial compensation, if any, paid by or to the School
District or on its behalf. Any such
settlement agreement shall be included as an agenda item on the next regularly
scheduled public meeting of the School Board for informational purposes or for
approval if required.
Any such settled claim or settlement agreement shall
be a public record. Nonetheless, specific portions of the record may be
withheld from the public to the extent permitted or provided by statute.
The foregoing does not apply to claims made in
connection with insured or self-insured health insurance contracts.
Legal Reference: Neb. Rev. Stat. '' 84-712 through
84-712.09
Neb.
Rev. Stat. '' 84-1201 to 84-1227
Laws
2010, LB 742
State
Records Administrator Guidelines:
Schedule
10: Records of Local School Districts (Feb. 1989)
Schedule
24: Local Agencies General Records
(March 2005)
Electronic
Imaging Guidelines (March 2003)
Date of Adoption: August 20, 2007
Revised:
July 20th, 2015