Fulton County Schools (FCS) shall comply with all state and federal regulations regarding the microfilming of records. If the microfilm produced meets all the legal requirements, the original document may be destroyed in accordance with the January 18, 1996 Resolution of the State Records Committee.
The Electronic Document Imaging Systems Guidelines published by the Secretary of State’s Department of Archives and History must be followed for all records that are used in document imaging. The imaging system must be capable of expunging images and their related index if necessary. It must also be capable of redacting confidential portions of documents or indexes from public inspection in order to comply with state law governing the inspection of public records (O.C.G.A. 50-18-70). Information in the system that is protected by law or regulation will be protected from inappropriate access. Information covered under privacy laws can be released only with the permission of the individual whose privacy would be violated by its release. Retention schedules are still in effect for electronic records, and the data must be retained for the same length of time and be just as readable throughout the life span as their original paper counterparts. No record with a retention period of more than 10 years shall be retained solely in electronic form.
The retention of electronic records, such as email is determined by the content, not the format of the record. Emails may be transferred to other electronic media as long as they are accessible and retrievable according to law and the approved retention schedule. Emails shall be retained as required by an applicable retention schedule, but shall not be retained past the retention schedule time. It is the responsibility of the email creator or originator to retain emails in order to comply with Federal, state, or local laws, as well as FCS policy. If the creator or originator is not part of the school system, then the responsibility to retain falls upon the school system recipient. Cross References: EHC - Electronic Records - Operating Guidelines