Recognizing the need to preserve records, the Great Neck School District’s Board of Education has proposed the development of a new policy on records retention. At the board’s June 16 public action meeting, the board introduced the proposed policy. 
The new policy addresses the school district’s need to preserve all records, including electronic records.
Trustee Susan Healy, chair of the board’s policy committee, explained that all of these records must be preserved “in a way that allows for their safe retention as well as for the legal disposition and destruction of obsolete records.”
The policy states that all school records must be handled in an “orderly and efficient” process.
It also states that the superintendent of schools (or a designee) retains the records for a specific time frame and then disposes of these records within a time frame established by New York State law.
The new policy also states that digital images of public records may be stored electronically and may then replace original copies.
And in order to provide accessibility, the school district must then follow procedures set by the commissioner of the New York State Department of Education.
Records retention requirements are to apply to any information system that stores electronic records.
Since this was just the first reading of the proposed policy, no action was taken. The school board must hold at least three public readings before approving a new or amended policy.
In some cases, for a very complex or controversial issue, more than three hearings may be necessary.
The proposed Policy On Records Retention will be read for a second time at the Board of Education’s Tuesday, July 1 public action meeting, at 8 p.m. at the Phipps Board Room in the Phipps Administration Building on the South Campus in Lake Success.
Managing School Records
