4000 Personnel
4100 General
4110 Rights, Responsibilities and Duties
4116 Electronic Mail
Electronic mail is an electronic message that is transmitted between two or more computers or electronic terminals, whether or not the message is converted to hard copy format after receipt and whether or not the message is viewed upon transmission or stored for later retrieval. Electronic mail includes all electronic messages that are transmitted through a local, regional, or global computer network.
All district electronic mail systems are owned by the district and are intended for the purpose of conducting official district business. Employees should have no expectation of privacy when using the electronic mail systems.
Users of district e-mail systems are responsible for their appropriate use. All illegal and improper uses of the electronic mail system, including but not limited to pornography, obscenity, harassment, solicitation, gambling and violating copyright or intellectual property rights are prohibited. Use of the electronic mail system for which the district will incur an expense without expressed permission of a supervisor is prohibited.
Electronic messages are not for private or confidential matters. Because there is no guarantee of privacy or confidentiality, other avenues of communication should be used for such matters. Except for directory information, student records will not be transmitted by electronic mail. Care should be taken when forwarding an electronic mail message. If the sender of an electronic mail message does not intend for the mail to be forwarded, the sender should clearly mark the message "Do Not Forward".
In order to keep district electronic mail systems secure, users may not leave the terminal "signed on" when unattended and may not leave their password available in an obvious place near the terminal or share their password with anyone except the electronic mail system administrator.
The district retains the right to review, store and disclose all information sent over the district electronic mail systems for any legally permissible reason, including but not limited to determining whether the information is a public record, whether it contains information discoverable in litigation and to access district information in the employee’s absence.
Except as provided herein, district employees are prohibited from accessing another employee’s electronic mail without the expressed consent of the employee. Statements made in electronic mail communications can form the basis of various legal claims against the individual author or the district.
Electronic mail sent or received by the board, the district or the district’s employees may be considered a public record subject to public disclosure or inspection under the Colorado Open Records Act. All Board and district electronic mail communications will be monitored in accordance with the attached regulation to ensure that all public electronic mail records are retained, archived and destroyed in compliance with state law.
District employees will be subject to disciplinary action for violation of this policy and regulation.
The superintendent will ensure that all district employees have notice of this policy and regulation and that each district employee is given an acknowledgment form to sign stating that have received and read the policy and regulation. The form will be maintained in the employee’s personnel file.
Revised: 2/25/02
Adopted: 6/19/97
Moffat County School District RE-1 Policy 4116