By Attorney Thomas B. Mooney, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut

The "Legal Question of the Week" is a regular feature of the CAS Weekly NewsBlast. We invite readers to submit short, law-related questions of practical concern to school administrators. Each week, we will select a question and publish an answer. While these answers cannot be considered formal legal advice, they may be of help to you and your colleagues. We may edit your questions, and we will not identify the authors. Please submit your questions to: legalmailbag@casciac.org.

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Dear Legal Mailbag:

I think that I am in deep trouble. I had a crush on one of the women in the choir at church, and I started emailing her on my school mail account. Being good church folk, neither she nor I were ever vulgar in our email exchanges, thanks be to God. But we did go on a bit about love and daydreaming about a future together until gradually our mutual infatuation fizzled out. However, last week the parent of a child I suspended got made at me, and she has filed an FOIA request for all of my emails. If I provide these emails to her, she may circulate them and embarrass me. Is there any hope for my salvation?

Signed,
Kneeling in Prayer


Dear Kneeling:

By the grace of the General Assembly, I think you are safe here, at least from this parent’s prying eyes. As a public employee, your email communications are generally public records, with an important caveat – they must relate to the public’s business. The Freedom of Information Act defines a “public record” as “any recorded data or information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, received or retained by a public agency, or to which a public agency is entitled to receive a copy by law or contract under section 1-218, whether such data or information be handwritten, typed, tape-recorded, printed, photostated, photographed or recorded by any other method.” Thus, while a “public record” subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information is defined broadly, it must relate to the “conduct of the public’s business.” Your romantic exchanges are not the public’s business, and thus you are not obligated to provide these emails in response to the parent’s FOIA request. That said, using the district email for this purpose was unwise, because your employer most likely has access to these emails. You may want to keep on praying.