BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS: RECORDS MANAGEMENT [SAMPLE POLICY]

The school shall file a certification with the Director of the State Library and Archives Commission indicating it will comply with the commission’s records retention schedule available on the Internet at: http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/slrm.

1. School Records

A. All documents, papers, letters, books, maps, photographs, sound or video recordings, microfilm, magnetic tape, electronic medium, or other information recording medium, regardless of physical form or characteristic, and regardless of whether public access to it is open or restricted under the laws of the state, created or received by the school or any of its officers or employees pursuant to law, or in the transaction of school business, are hereby declared to be records of the school and shall be created, maintained, and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this policy or procedures authorized by it, and in no other manner.

B. All records as defined in this policy are the property of the school. No official or employee has, by virtue of his/her position, any personal or property right to such records even though s/he may have developed or compiled them. The unauthorized destruction, removal from files, or use of such records is prohibited.

2. Records Management Practices

It is the policy of the school to provide for efficient, economical, and effective controls over the creation, distribution, organization, maintenance, use, and disposition of all records of the school through a comprehensive system of integrated procedures for the management of records from their creation to their disposition, consistent with the requirements of the Local Government Records Act, Chapter 201, and accepted records management practice.

3. Records Management Officer

The records management officer of the school will ensure that the maintenance, destruction, electronic storage, or other disposition of the records are carried out in accordance with the Local Government Records Act. The records management officer of the school is:

[insert name or position of records officer].

4. Records Retention and Control

Appropriate records control schedules issued by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission shall be adopted by the records management officer for use in the school, as provided by law. Any destruction of school records will be in accordance with these schedules and the Local Government Records Act.