Knowing what records to keep, how to keep them and for how long, is a tricky business for schools to master. With a raft of legislation, such as the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), dictating how to handle/protect certain types of information and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) recommendations saying there should be a freeze on the disposal of documents relating to child sexual abuse, knowing what to do with school records is becoming more complex for schools.

The Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) produce some useful guidance regarding how long schools should retain records for and what documents they should, and should not, retain.  The ASA Records Retention and Disposal Schedule (RRDS) for Non-Government Schools provides an overview of all records likely to be created by non-government schools and provides guidance on the retention and disposal of those records. The RRDS is not publicly available and must be purchased from the ASA. It is a guide only.

Review of the RRDS

The ASA is now reviewing the RRDS to update methods of records retention, such as storing records digitally, to reflect changes to the law such as reforms to child protection legislation and to reflect recommendations that have been made by the Royal Commission. The ASA is informing schools about future changes to the RRDS by hosting presentations. The author of this article attended the ASA presentation in Melbourne.

The ASA RRDS offers guidance, recommendations and best practice on how schools may manage their records or other objects. The RRDS does not replace certain obligations that schools must meet in order ensure they do not breach any of their legal requirements such as having a Privacy Policy and not destroying any records that relate to a legal proceeding.

Outline of the revised RRDS

The proposed outline of the new RRDS splits everything into categories, so information can be retained, categorised and stored correctly.  The revised RRDS will encompass the following changes:

• Administration – includes general day-to-day office administration tasks;
• Governance – information such as decisions made by school boards, retention of board minutes and recording who the board members are;
• Student Services – this includes any services the school provides to students, such as health and welfare, academic support, scholarships, excursions and accommodation such as boarding houses;
• Student Management – includes student admission, enrolment information, child protection, attendance and behavioural management;
• Teaching and Learning – information that would be retained include class plans;
• Communication – letters, emails and possibly even text messages may be included if they relate to school activity;
• School related groups – any parents’ associations, sports teams, alumni members and management and any associated social groups;
• Objects – this refers to any physical objects that may be collected by the school such as art collections, items of historical significance, old school uniforms, photos - the list is almost endless; and
• Ephemera – information or documents that were used for short-term usefulness such as post-it notes or other documents you can destroy in normal circumstances.

Key reforms of the new RRDS

The ASA has made some key reforms to the new RRDS.  The new reforms include:

• expanding the scope of the RRDS to include other areas or services a school might require such as child care, early learning centres, primary, secondary and international baccalaureate programs;
• providing guidance on retaining records, even if they are old;
• keeping records longer than the required or legislated minimum;
• guiding schools on how to manage digital records;
• providing best practice recommendations on retaining records or objects belonging to the school and donated to the school (either permanently or held on consignment);
• the inclusion of normal administration practices;
• covering the definition of an object to include artefacts and other items of high significance;
• including a category of Ephemera;
• including the school related groups, such as the parent groups and alumni, in the retention schedule; and
• covering storage of information by third parties such as cloud service providers or other information storage providers.

Key issues raised

At the presentations, the ASA addressed several key issues that came from the ASA Reference Committee and other stakeholders.  The issues exist due to conflicting guidance from other associations and legislative requirements. The issues discussed by the ASA include:

• following Royal Commission guidance;
• schools maintaining a student master record;
• retention of psychological reports; and
• retention of documents relating to indigenous people.

While each issue has its own legal complexities, the ASA did offer its view on how best to manage these matters.

Royal Commission Guidance

The ASA recommends that schools need to follow Royal Commission guidance on record practices. This includes schools following the guidance from the Royal Commission regarding the disposal freeze on documents relating to child sexual abuse.  This was originally a Commonwealth directive which was then enforced by state and territory government bodies.  For government schools, this means that they must keep records relating to child sexual abuse, including general records relating to a student, indefinitely; which is in line with Royal Commission recommendations. Non-government schools should follow the freeze as well.  The ASA also put forward a possible recommendation that documents relating to a student be retained for 75 years from the student’s date of birth. However, this seems impractical due to the inconvenience and the extra costs it would impose on schools.

Student master record

The ASA recommended that schools have a student master record. This ensures that the main file or information regarding the student has a single source point but there can be no other files on the student and it must be regularly maintained. Information stored on the student file is the same as any other normal file, such as:

• student demographic details;
• academic records; and
• scholarship information.

Psychological reports

The ASA recommend that psychological reports follow the Australian Psychological Society Guidelines (APSG) where psychological reports are to be held for 25 years before being disposed. The APSG also states that when disposing of psychological reports, information relating to a patient must be redacted to de-identify any identifying information about the patient.  However, schools should note that if the psychological report relates to a student, they should be retained for an indefinite period, in line with Royal Commission recommedations.

Indigenous records

There is conflicting guidance as to how long a record relating to an indigenous person should be retained. In the Northern Territory, a record relating to an indigenous person must be kept for the life of the person, while in Queensland it must be retained permanently and not destroyed (which is also in line with the Recommendation 21 of the Bring them Home Report). The ASA has not yet given a directive on these sorts of records.

Main legal requirements

There are multiple sources of legislation which, depending on a school's governance structure, may apply to different types of records.

Section 286 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) states that financial records (such as invoices, receipts and cheques) must be retained for a minimum period of seven (7) years. According to section 262A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth), tax records must be held for a minimum period of five (5) years. Additionally, the APPs under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) require documents retained by APP entities, such as schools, to remain private and secure, as long as necessary.

Furthermore, under the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) it is an offence to intentionally destroy documents that a person knows are, or may be, required as evidence in a judicial proceeding in order to prevent them from being used in court. Each state and territory has their own legislation regarding this issue, for example, section 254 of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) makes it an offence to destroy a document that is reasonably likely to be used in a legal proceeding.

The RRDS does not address these laws but does offer a general framework for managing records, once a school's legal obligations have been considered. The revised RRDS is expected to be released in late 2017 or early 2018. In the meantime, schools should continue to manage the collection, storage and disposal of records in accordance with relevant legal requirements and guidance.