School district records are housed in the central administration office of the school district. It is the responsibility of the superintendent to oversee the maintenance and accuracy of the records. The following records are kept and preserved according to the schedule below:
- Secretary’s financial records................................................Permanently
- Treasurer’s financial records................................................Permanently
- Minutes of the Board of Directors........................................ Permanently
- Annual audit reports............................................................ Permanently
- Annual budget......................................................................Permanently
- Permanent record of individual pupil....................................Permanently
- School election results.........................................................Permanently
- Real property records (e.g., deeds, abstracts).....................Permanently
- Records of payment of judgments against the school district...................................................................................20 years
- Bonds and bond coupons.....................................................11 years after maturity, cancellation, transfer, redemption, and/or replacement
- Written contracts.................................................................. 11 years
- Cancelled warrants, check stubs, bank statements, bills, invoices, and related records..................................................................................5 years
- Recordings of closed meetings............................................ 1 year
- Program grants.....................................................................As determined by the grant
- Nonpayroll personnel records...............................................7 years
- Payroll records...................................................................... 3 years
- Employment applications.......................................................2 years
- School meal program accounts/records.............................. 3 years after submission of the final claim for reimbursement
In the event that any federal or state agency requires a record be retained for a period of time longer than that listed above for audit purposes or otherwise, the record shall be retained beyond the listed period as long as is required for the resolution of the issue by the federal or state agency.
Employees’ records are housed in the central administration office of the school district. The employees’ records are maintained by the superintendent, the building administrator, the employee’s immediate supervisor, and the board secretary.
An inventory of the furniture, equipment, and other non-consumable items other than real property of the school district is conducted annually under the supervision of the superintendent. This report is filed with the board secretary.
The permanent and cumulative records of students currently enrolled in the school district are housed in the central administration office of the attendance center where the student attends. Permanent records must be housed in a fireproof vault. The building administrator is responsible for keeping these records current. Records of students who have graduated or are no longer enrolled in the school district are housed in the high school principal’s office. These records will be maintained by the superintendent.
The superintendent may electronically store and/or back-up or use any other reliably mass storage method to preserve school district records and may destroy paper copies of the records if they are more than three years old. A properly authenticated reproduction of a microfilmed record meets the same legal requirements as the original record.
The board secretary shall act as custodian of public records of the district and shall be responsible for implementing the requirements of the Iowa public records law. Such records shall be open for public examination, except that records required or authorized to be kept confidential by law shall not be made available for public examination. The board secretary may seek opinion of counsel as to whether a record is a public or confidential record prior to releasing the document. Public records may be examined during hours in which the central office is open, generally 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Such examination shall be done under the supervision of the board secretary or the board secretary’s designee. No person shall destroy, alter, disorganize, or damage any record or remove any record from the central office. If the examination will take longer than 15 minutes, the board secretary is authorized to charge his/her or the designee’s hourly wage for duties in supervising the examination. Copies may be made of public records upon payment of a designated fee per page.
Approved November 11, 2013
Reviewed August 2, 2023
Revised November 26, 2018
