E-mail Archiving in School Districts
The recent new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) now provide us with clear statements to the importance of e-mail messages and other electronic stored information (ESI) in civil litigation. FRCP paints a broad brush stroke across American society - small businesses as well as larger ones; government agencies as well as private industry; school boards and community associations as well as companies. All organizations are subject to the new amendments during civil discovery. Ignorance is not likely to be tolerated. (For an overview of these amendments go to FRCP Simplified - How it Affects You.)
In the six months that have followed the emergence of these new rules, school districts are increasingly being advised by their lawyers to set up e-mail retention systems that will allow them to produce e-mail evidence quickly in case they are required.
Why are school districts so concerned about FRCP? It's simple, schools are targets. According to the National School Board Association, 25% of public schools said they have faced lawsuits in the past two years. Schools obviously are not insulated from the growing litiguous nature of American society.
The following two examples are not atypical of the legal issues school administrators now face:
- "My client's daughter failed because her teacher was picking on her. It's all in the teacher's e-mails."
- "My client fought in the school yard because he was being bullied, and your teachers knew about it. It's all in their e-mails. "
School districts, like so many other organizations, are now realizing that the outset of litigation is the worse possible time to recognize that a searchable e-mail archive is a necessity.
For a copy of the white paper called "New Imperative for E-mail Evidence", send a request to communications@NorthSeasAMT.com