From the News and Tribune (Jeffersonville):
Q: Emails from a work account of a charter school principal should be public record shouldn’t they?
A: HSPA worked several years ago to make sure educational records of charter schools would be available to the same extent that public school records are. But I can’t say employee emails were contemplated at the time.
The concern then was the type of records schools must create for the state department of education.
I don’t think there was intent by the state legislature to make private schools into public agencies under either the Open Door Law or Access to Public Records Act.
I would have a hard time telling you that all emails of a charter school principal would be subject to the Access to Public Records Act.
That doesn’t mean you can’t ask Public Access Counselor Luke Britt for an opinion. He has been very pro-transparency on this issue, reading the legislature’s intent as favoring the release of emails.
Contact Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, with media law questions at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624-4427.
