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Board discusses district-email use and public-records retention in policy review
Summary
Board members reviewed language on board members' use of electronic mail and public-records retention. Members recommended adding a paragraph encouraging use of district email accounts, noting messages may be subject to the Wisconsin Public Records Law and that retention periods referenced in the template should be updated to current law.
Elkhorn Area School District board members reviewed proposed language governing board members’ use of electronic mail and public-record retention and identified sections needing updates to reflect current practice and state law.
Members noted the draft language encourages use of district email accounts for school-related business and discussed adding an explicit paragraph requiring or strongly encouraging board members to copy the district administrator on school-related emails sent from personal accounts so the messages are captured in the district record. Participants said the draft Neola template referenced a two-week availability window for deleted messages; several speakers noted that current law and district practice require longer retention and recommended updating the retention language to reflect a seven-year retention period.
Board members also discussed archiving practices and whether the district’s system automatically preserves deleted messages. Several said the district should keep an explicit statement that there is no expectation of privacy for district email and that messages may be subject to disclosure under the Wisconsin Public Records Law. One member asked staff to confirm the precise name and retention schedule of the records statute and to add that language to the policy.
Ending: Staff was asked to draft specific language to add to the policy (including the expectation to use district email for school business, the requirement to copy the district administrator on school-related personal-email replies, and corrected retention-period language) and to confirm the applicable public-records statute name and retention period.
