ICHABOD CRANE 9160
PERSONNEL RECORDS
Information about staff is required for the daily administration of the school district, for implementing salary and other personnel policies, for budget and financial planning, for responding to appropriate inquiries about employees, and for meeting Board of Education, state and federal educational reporting requirements. To these ends, the Board authorizes and directs the Superintendent of Schools to develop and implement a comprehensive and efficient system of personnel records maintenance and control under the guidelines which follow.
- A personnel file will be accurately maintained in the central administrative office for each present and former employee. These files will contain applications for employment; references; and records relative to compensation, payroll deductions, evaluations and such other matters as may be considered pertinent to the purposes of this policy as cited above.
- The Superintendent will be the records manager for personnel files and will have the overall responsibility for maintaining and preserving the confidentiality of the files. The Superintendent may, however, designate another official to perform the duties of records management on the understanding that this official is to be held responsible for granting or denying access to records on the basis of these guidelines.
- Except for information required to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Law, all personnel records will be considered confidential and not open to public inspection, and access to files will be limited to school and governmental officials authorized by the Superintendent to use the files for purposes of this policy as cited above. No other persons or agencies may have access to information in a staff member’s file except when the staff member has given written consent for the release of specific information to a specific person or agency, or when such information is subpoenaed or ordered for release by a court of law.
- Lists of district employees’ names and home addresses will be released only to governmental agencies as required for official reports.
- A present or former staff member may have access to his own personnel file at all reasonable times (i.e., during regular school hours) but with the exception that access will not be granted to references provided to the district on a confidential basis prior to employment. The right of access includes the right to make written objections to any information contained in the file. Any written objection must be signed by the staff member and will become part of the staff member’s file. In cases when file information is proved to be in error, correction will be made.
- No complaint, commendation, suggestion, or evaluation may be placed in the evaluation section of a file unless it meets the following requirements: a. The comment is signed by the person making the complaint, commendation, suggestion, or evaluation; and
- The Superintendent or employee’s principal or other supervisor has notified the employee that the comment is available in the district office for inspection prior to its placement in the evaluation section.
The employee may offer a denial or explanation of the complaint, commendation, suggestion, or evaluation, and any such denial or explanation will become a part of the evaluation section.
The Board has the right of access to personnel records of district employees pursuant to the procedures set out in Part 84 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.
Cross-ref: 1120 School District Records
Ref: Education Law §3020-a
8 NYCRR Part 84
Effective Date: June 6, 2017