Fact Sheet

Email as a Public Record

Source: Britton, Smith, Peters & Kalai., Co., L.P.A., www.ohioedlaw.com

  1. Electronic mail, commonly called e-mail, messages are electronic documents created and sent or received by a computer system. This applies equally to the contents of the communication, the transactional information, and any attachments associated with such communications.
  1. As a matter of practice, do not write anything in an email that you would not want made public. Email is not as private as a phone call, a written letter or other forms of communication.
  1. E-Mail as a Public Record

·  An e-mail message is a document or item created or received by a public office. Whether an e-mail serves to document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities is the deciding factor as to its status as a record. Such consideration is true of any communication, whether electronic or paper. Not all data in electronic information systems constitute records; specifically, records have a distinct legal and administrative status that not all information and documents have.

·  E-mail messages that meet the definition of a public record must be available to the public. These records must be scheduled, maintained and made accessible to the public upon request through the appropriate retention period.

TCESC Technology Dept suggestion: If your email message is a public record you should print it and file it like you would any other public record.

Trumbull County Educational Service Center 6000 Youngstown Warren Rd Niles, Ohio 44446

Phone: 330-505-2800 Fax: 330-505-2814 www.trumbull.k12.oh.us

Best Practices for Managing E-Mail

·  Be aware that e-mail messages are often widely distributed to a number of various recipients. Be professional in all correspondence.

·  Complete the subject line in the e-mail both to help your recipient identify and file messages and to help you file your out box messages that must be retained for some period. Subject lines should be as descriptive as possible. If a message includes confidential student personally identifiable information, use an abbreviation in the subject line to signal same to recipient.

·  Delete e-mail messages that are not records when they are no longer of use to you.

·  Include a signature block on messages with name, title, and possibly address and phone. Do not include a quote in the signature.

·  Be concise and to the point. Don’t make your emails longer than they need to be. Reading an email is more difficult than reading print materials.

·  Use professional email addresses. Business communication should not be done using cutesy, personal email addresses.

·  Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation. An email should convey the same professionalism as print materials. An email with no periods or commas is difficult to read and can change the meaning of the message. Do not use abbreviations such as BTW (by the way) or LOL (laugh out loud) in business communications. Also, do not use symbols for emotions such as the smiley :-) in business communications.

·  Respond quickly. Individuals who send an email expect a quick response.

·  Proofread, proofread, proofread. It is very easy to rush a response or an email and to make silly mistakes while rushing.

·  Do not write in all capital letters. In email, this is the equivalent of shouting. It is difficult to read text written in all capital letters on a piece of paper. It is nearly impossible to read all capitals on a computer screen.

·  Include the original email in your reply. When you reply to an email, click reply instead of new mail. This will include the original message. Without the original message your recipient may not have enough information to respond to your request.

·  Think about your formatting. Write sentences that are approximately 15-20 words in length. Use short paragraphs and blank lines between paragraphs. Use a font and color that is easy to read.

·  Do not overuse the high priority option. If you overuse the high priority option, it will lose its function when you need it. Remember the boy who cried wolf.