Keep your email...or else! That's one of the potential interpretations that school districts are facing in light of a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The ruling applies to businesses, but also, schools.

According to new federal rules that went into effect Dec. 1, schools, businesses, and other organizations are required to keep tabs on all eMail, instant messages (IM), and other digital communications produced by their employees. . . An expert on issues concerning technology and the law, Lindsay has called prematurely deleting or copying over eMail documents a matter of "virtual shredding."
Source: eSchoolNews, 12/8/2006

School districts now need to do the following:

1. Make clear that ALL employees understand email is a matter of public record.
   Example: Are you sure you want everyone to know that the email circulating the district with a video from CollegeHumor.com to be revealed during a legal discovery process originated with you?
2. School districts need to store, and more importantly, be able to retrieve digital communications.
3. School district board members also need to keep copies of their constituents' emails.

Read the complete article from eSchoolNews.