U.S. K-12 Schools Must Comply With e-Discovery Rule

Lucas123 writes "K-12 school districts throughout the US have a daunting IT homework assignment over the summer: Develop systems that ensure their electronic documents, email and instant messages are in compliance with new federal e-discovery regulations, much in the same way corporations have been preparing over the past year. The new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) are expected to be widely enforced by the end of 2007, according to a Computerworld story. '"A lack of preparation could prove dire for K-12 school districts, which oftentimes lack technical proficiency, funding and legal expertise," said Robert Ayers, technology coordinator for the Kingston, Pa.-based Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18 school district.'"

Comments

E-Discovery?

[smartbei]

For those (like me) unaware of this terminology: (from TFA)

September 2005 updates to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) require that electronic documents -- including e-mail and perhaps even instant messaging logs -- be available as evidence in civil court cases. Observers note that widespread enforcement of the rules will likely begin by the end of 2007, a year later than expected (see "New e-discovery rules go into effect in December ").

Not just schools

[Bender0x7D1]

It is important to realize that these rule changes aren't just for schools - they apply to every company in the U.S..

So, for those of you who are the entire IT department where you work, or if you run your own business as a consultant, (or some similar situation), you might want to pay attention to what is required regarding email and IM retention under the new rules.

ALERT! - This is all VENDOR HYPE!!!

[spiedrazer]

I manage the networks for a K-12 school district and I am being bombarded by this same info, most of it feuled by vendor FUD!! The Rules of discovery that everyone is referencing do NOT say in any way that all electronic communications need to be stored or archived in any way.

What the rules DO now officially state (which they didn't before last year) is that electronic communications must now be treated the same as traditional paper documentation.

Specifically, that means that you cant destroy any correspondance or record HAVING TO DO WITH AN ONGOING LEGAL ACTION/LITIGATION or that you can reasonaby expect may lead to litigation. For my organization, that is less than one percent of the volume of data I have. All the vendors are saying that we need to archive ALL our e-mails in a searchable database yada yada yada so that we can protect ourselves against some unknown threat that we may be found in violation of these rules. That simply isn't the case. We will be in trouble if we destroy evidenmce in an ongoing legal case, but that is about it.

What we DO need to do is insure that the HR department and others that typically deal with sensitive legal topics understand the rules, and that they should print out and save anything that they suspect could come back to bite us, like adverse personell actions. We also need to insure that building administrators do the same when it comes to discipline actions concerning students etc.

AGAIN, anyone who tells you that you NEED to archive/store ALL e-mail or other electronic documents is at best completely mis-informed (like most of the journalists parroting back the FUD)or at worst trying to scam you directly with their FUD.

That upper-leg tick really needs attention.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Ah, President Bush. I thought I smelled your foul stench.

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are promulgated by the Supreme Court (and written by their employees), after receiving a Congressional rubber stamp. Bush and his whole branch of government aren't even in the loop.

But somehow it's Bush's fault, right? Did you elect him the official scapegoat? (If you get a cold it's Bush's fault. If the Supreme Court promulgates a rule you don't like it's Bush's fault. He wasn't there for the election - but that's HIS fault.)

You really need to get medical attention for that jerking knee.