New CoSN White Paper Provides Ed Tech Leaders with Detailed Information About New Changes to Federal Laws, Case Studies and Recommendations for Compliance WASHINGTON, June 25
WASHINGTON, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The Consortium for School Networking
(CoSN) today released a new White Paper, titled School Districts, Data
Retention and Federal eDiscovery Rules: The Case for a Full E-mail Archiving
Solution Now, which was developed to help education technology leaders
understand recent changes to federal laws governing e-mail archiving and data
retention, and to increase awareness about the importance of schools acting in
accordance with the rules. The White Paper underscores the need for a complete
e-mail archiving solution, and provides recommendations to school technology
leaders for achieving compliance and case studies detailing successful
approaches taken by school districts around the country. In addition, the
paper sheds light on the policy issues, technology challenges, budget
constraints and legal implications facing schools as they work to ensure that
their districts are compliant.
"E-mail has transformed the way we all communicate -- educators, schools
and school districts included. Because much information is shared
electronically and federal laws and judicial interpretations are including
electronic communication as subject to legal discovery, it has become
increasingly important for schools to make e-mail archiving a critical part of
their record-keeping activities," said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN.
"The goal of this new paper and our advocacy efforts on this issue is to
provide educators with the information they need to understand what compliance
means and how to achieve it," said Donna Boivin, CIO, Springfield Public
Schools, MA and member of the Task Force that developed the White Paper.
The new white paper on e-mail archiving defines eDiscovery and contrasts
it with Open Records laws, highlighting that while many districts have been
operating under Open Records for years, eDiscovery is a new issue. The paper
also details how the rules were updated following a December 2006 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling that amended the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) to
include all electronic information -- including e-mail and instant messages --
as subject to legal discovery.
A recent online survey found that 80 percent of school administrators are
unclear about their district's policies for the retention of
electronically-stored information, including e-mail and instant messages. Two
out of three IT administrators responsible for managing backup data and
archived messages said they were aware of the newly amended FRCP, and 90
percent said they had yet to initiate an FRCP compliance preparedness plan.
"While we provide case studies in the paper illustrating how some school
districts are complying with new regulations, what is really needed is a
comprehensive e-mail archiving solution or protocol to help educators ensure
that they are operating in compliance with the law," said Jeff Patterson, an
industry leader from Gaggle.Net who helped lead the task force that developed
the White Paper. "Schools want to be compliant but many educators are unsure
of the right steps to take. National leadership is needed on this issue and
therefore it is important that CoSN, as the leading voice for district
technology leaders, is urging action and educating on this critical issue."
In addition to providing background information about eDiscovery, the new
CoSN white paper includes profiles of how some districts are archiving,
including in-house, hardware-based solutions and hosted solutions. CoSN also
notes that archiving is important for three key reasons -- in the case of a
lawsuit, to have backup information for district defense; to ensure vital
information can be safeguarded as part of a disaster recovery plan; and to
maintain an adequate knowledge base.
An Executive Summary of the paper is available at http://www.cosn.org. The
complete paper will be sent to CoSN institutional and corporate members as a
benefit of their membership.
The Task Force of educators and industry leaders who developed the paper
included:
-- Jon Bernstein, President, Bernstein Strategy Group
-- Donna Boivin, Chief Information Officer, Springfield Public Schools, MA
-- Sue Derison, Director of Information Systems and Support, Forsyth
County School District, GA
-- Bailey Mitchell, Chief Technology and Information Officer, Forsyth
County Schools, GA
-- Jeff Patterson, President, Gaggle.Net
This effort was made possible by support from Gaggle.Net.
About the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)
CoSN is the country's premier voice in education technology leadership,
serving K-12 technology leaders who through their strategic use of technology,
improve teaching and learning. CoSN provides products and services to support
and nurture leadership development, advocacy, coalition building, and
awareness of emerging technologies.
CoSN leadership initiatives include: Using Technology to Raise the
Achievement of ALL Students (http://www.accessibletech4all.org); Cyber
Security for the Digital District (http://www.securedistrict.org); Data-Driven
Decision-Making (http://www.3d2know.org), K-12 Open Technologies
(http://www.k12opentech.org); Taking Total Cost of Ownership to the Classroom
(http://www.classroomtco.org); Value of Investment (http://www.edtechvoi.org)
and the development of the Council of School District Chief Technology
Officers (CTO Council).
CoSN's membership includes a unique blend of education and technology
leaders, policy makers, and influencers from the public and private sectors.
Our audience includes key technology leaders (often called Chief Technology
Officers-CTOs) in leading-edge states and districts, policy makers, private
sector leaders, as well as those technology leaders who wish to accelerate
their districts' or states' systemic technology use. Visit
http://www.cosn.org or phone 866.267.8747 to find out more about CoSN's
programs and activities supporting leadership development to ensure that
information technology has a direct and positive impact on student learning in
elementary and secondary schools.
About Gaggle.Net
Founded in 1998, Gaggle.Net is in its ninth year of providing safe,
filtered email accounts to over 1 million K-12 users throughout the United
States and around the world.
Starting in December 2006, Gaggle began offering a new email archiving
service to help school districts meet the federal requirements for eDiscovery
and open records laws. The Gaggle solution works with Microsoft Exchange,
Novell GroupWise, Lotus Notes, NetMail, Google Apps, IMail, @Mail, Postfix and
many other email servers. The solution does not require the district to make
any hardware or software purchases and can be implemented in one day.
Gaggle's archiving solution offers sophisticated search features, security
logging, multiple access levels, private accounts, LDAP authentication and
much more. The cost per user includes unlimited mail storage.
For additional information, please contact Michael Kessler. You may also
visit our website at http://www.gaggle.net or http://www.gaggle.mail.com
CONTACT:
For CoSN
Jennifer Cummings
202/822-9491
jcummings@fratelli.com
For Gaggle.Net
Michael Kessler
Vice President, Gaggle.Net, Inc.
800-288-7750
mike@gaggle.net
SOURCE Gaggle.Net
