Education Law

Are Personal Emails of Wisconsin School District?s Employees Subject to the State's Open Records Law?

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has agreed to review a case dealing with whether the personal emails of employees of a school district sent using district email accounts and district-owned computers are subject to release under the state's open records law, even if the emails did not in any way relate to the employee's job duties.  Oral arguments in Schill v. Wisconsin Rapids School District are scheduled to take place in November.  The school district's computer use policy permitted employees to use district email accounts for occasional personal use, and the district had not considered any of the individuals to be in violation of the usage policy.  The citizen seeking the emails, describing the request as a 'fishing expedition,' wanted them to assess if it appeared employees were abusing the district's occasional use policy.  Representing a question of first impression in Wisconsin, the case is of likely interest to observers in other states as well.

Full post as published by Edjurist on September 07, 2009 (boomark / email).