4012.4 - Organization Email

Emails are considered a Class 3 record in accordance with the California Code of Regulations Code Title 5, Sections 16020-16030, records are defined as:

• Class 1 - Permanent Records, Section 16023;
• Class 2 - Optional Records, Section 16024;
• Class 3 - Disposable Records, Section 16025.

Emails are considered a Class 3 record unless attachments cause the email to be assigned a Class 1 or Class 2 designation. Section 16027 indicates that Class 3 records shall be destroyed during the third school year after the school year in which they originated; after 5 years of origination.

Emails containing Class 1 or Class 2 data must be safeguarded by the employee in accordance with SBCSS records retention policies. Class 3 emails will not be retained beyond the 5-year retention period.

Revisions to the FRCP of 2006 state it is the obligation of the employer “to quickly secure, hold, and produce all pertinent data for litigation when directed”. The CommVault eDiscovery solution provides the Superintendent the ability to comply with this obligation. Email received by the Exchange server is retained in the CommVault eDisovery server; a separate, secured environment. Emails will only be deleted from the eDiscovery area when they have exceeded the 5-year retention period. This process will be performed through the Commvault eDiscovery deletion process. Only authorized employees have access to the eDiscovery system. All access is traceable by date and time logs.

The following procedures apply to email delivery, retention, archiving, and disposal:

1. Email sent to the SBCSS Exchange mail server is first processed through a spam filter;
2. Email not classified as spam is forwarded to the Exchange server where a copy is made and placed in the CommVault eDiscovery server;
3. The email is delivered to the employee’s inbox;
4. Once delivered, the email can be deleted by the employee or retained in the employee’s INBOX or designated folders, for the 5-year retention cycle;
5. After 90 days, emails are automatically sent to the CommVault archive server and are retrievable by the employee for up to 5 years;
6. Emails that exceed 400k are automatically archived and are retrievable by the employee for up to 5 years.

Employees can manually move email to the DELETED ITEMS folder. Once an item is placed in the DELETED ITEMS folder, it remains there for 45 calendar days and is deleted at the close of business on the 45th day. The copy of the email is not deleted from the CommVault eDiscovery server.

All email is available to employees for 5 years unless the employee moves the email to the DELETED ITEMS folder. At that time the DELETED ITEMS procedure takes effect;

Emails residing in email folders will be deleted after the 5-year retention period;

Employees can manually delete emails from folders contained in their folder list at any time. This action will move the email to the DELETED ITEMS folder. The DELETED ITEMS procedure will then be applied.

The Windows Native version of the Microsoft Outlook client and the Microsoft Outlook Web Access are the only supported solutions for SBCSS employees to access their email and calendar information. Currently Outlook 2003, 2007, and 2010 are the only Outlook clients that meet these criteria. Other solutions will jeopardize the legal eDiscovery obligations of the superintendent.

Approved: September 25, 2007
Revised: March 17, 2011
November 5, 2013
July 24, 2014