On Jan. 27, 2025, the Superior Court of New Jersey – Appellate Division held that email logs kept on public officials’ personal computers, where school board business was discussed, are government records under the Open Public Records Act and are disclosable. (View the ruling here: A-1466-23 – ALEX ROSETTI VS. RAMAPO-INDIAN HILLS REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION, ET AL. L-1383-23, BERGEN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE.)

In 2023, the plaintiff in this matter requested email logs from the personal computers of past and present school board members wherein school board business was discussed. The request at issue included:

“Email logs of all past and current Board members for all email accounts in which they have conducted or discussed Board of Education matters or business during the time frame of November 1, 2022 through to the date of the response. The email log should contain the sender, recipient, those copied (“cc”) or blind copied (“bcc”), the date, time, subject and identify the existence and name of any attachment.” 

The trial court (lower court) held that the email logs sitting on school board members’ personal servers were not government records and, if they were, they were too burdensome to produce. 

The matter was thereafter appealed to the Appellate Division, which on Jan. 27, 2025, steadfastly disagreed and reversed and remanded this matter back to the trial court for the records to be reviewed and turned over consistent with the order. The appellate court held that email logs on a school board member’s personal computer/private server, are government records under OPRA, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 – 13. In this case, the court was not persuaded that the records were not maintained or controlled by the school board but rather sat on the personal servers of public officials – in this case – school board members. 

Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, a government record is defined as “any paper … document … information stored or maintained electronically …, or any copy thereof, that has been made, or kept on file in the course of his or its official business by any officer, commission, agency or authority of the state.”

While this case is currently on remand and may not be the final say on this matter, school board members should still be mindful that email logs representing documents that concern board business could be ultimately disclosable under OPRA, regardless of the device upon which it is written or saved.

Any specific questions on this case should be discussed with board counsel or further resources can be obtained through NJSBA’s Attorney of the Day program via email.